


Seven

by Slaymin



Series: The Folklore of Volleyball [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Childhood Friends, Childhood Friends AU, Childhood Memories, Fluff and Angst, Lots of Angst, M/M, Repressed Memories, This hurt me to write, also a small scene that depicts an incidence of abuse, but then put me back together, lots of dreams, so it's okay now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:01:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 37,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25810999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slaymin/pseuds/Slaymin
Summary: Inspired by Taylor Swift's song Seven from her 2020 record, FolkloreA story about childhood, the promises we make when our backyards are our whole world, the dreams we wish for when the future is all we have, and our ways to find those when we eventually do grow up.Kageyama Tobio is a twenty-seven-year-old who hates his job, hates his city, and hates his life. After losing the said job and moving back to the town he lived in when he was seven-years-old, he begins to remember a time when he wasn’t so angry at the world and himself. And he begins to remember his childhood best friend, Hinata Shouyou, who used to be his entire world outside of his mom’s sweet tea, matcha Hello Panda, and that swing in their backyard. Thus ensues his journey of self-discovery, memories he didn’t know he had forgotten, and his vow to find that tangerine-haired boy who helped him see the world in color, no matter what.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Series: The Folklore of Volleyball [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188887
Comments: 21
Kudos: 51





	Seven

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I came up with the idea for this fic when I was busy crying myself to sleep while listening to Taylor Swift's most recent record, Folklore, and especially her song, Seven, which somehow makes me nostalgic for a time and a childhood I never had? Have any of you felt that way? And being the big simp I am for heartwrenching music and those 2D anime boys, I decided to spend the better half of a month and all my waking time obsessing over this idea that was rattling around in my brain. SO here it is, in all its glory in my first ever one-shot fic. So please enjoy this idea that grew from a song by the one and only Taylor Swift and my favorite crows.
> 
> Also, stream or buy Folklore by Taylor Swift
> 
> Also also, who else cried when they finished the last chapter of the manga and is super pumped for when we finally get to see the last half of Season 4 even if they did our Kurasuno boys hella dirty with the new animation style???
> 
> (Edited on 31 Aug 2020)

_Please picture me_

_In the weeds_

_Before I learned civility_

_I used to scream_

_Ferociously_

_Any time I wanted_

-Seven, Taylor Swift

  
  


Kageyama Tobio wakes up to the same droning alarm, at the same time every gray morning, in the same drab apartment, in the same encroaching skyscraper-filled city. He grumbles to himself as he pulls his deflated pillow over his ears to block out its monotonous screeches. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before as he kept waking up in the middle of the night, for seemingly no reason at all. Except for maybe a cryptic dream that he’s been having for the past few weeks. All he can remember when he wakes up is seeing this boy with bright orange hair sitting on something hanging from a tree. Most likely a swing. 

He desperately wants to go back to this picture and find out more. If not for his curiosity, but for his sleep schedule.

 _Five more minutes_ , he pleads to himself and the clock that he just wants to throw out of his third-floor apartment window. He thinks better of it when he remembers how terrified he is of his downstairs neighbors. And the fact that it was only that alarm clock’s intense blaring that could wake him up these monotonous days. So, no matter how much he wants that piece of overpriced electronics to die a horrible, gravity-induced death, he knows he needed it. Just as much as he needs this job that he hates and really he can’t afford not to go to.

He groggily gets up and shuts off the alarm for seemingly the millionth time in these years that seem to just go on and on without him. He brushes his teeth, trying not to look at himself in the mirror. Even his eye bags had bags of their own. He can’t find his brush at first and absentmindedly runs his fingers through his hair, thinking that it was as good as it was going to get. He checks to see if any pimples have decided to grow overnight and when done, he looks down at his watch.

“Shoot, I’m going to be late!” Kageyama exclaims to his empty apartment. 

At first, he thought having his own space would be for the best. Especially after sharing a dorm his freshman year of college with his sometimes friend, more often sworn enemy, Oikawa Tooru. They hadn’t spoken in at least five years, since they graduated. Although he isn't sure if it was because it was so long ago or if he didn’t want to be reminded of the last time he had had a meaningful connection with another person that wasn’t his landlord or his manager.

He rushes out of his apartment, his suit haphazardly thrown on, his belt still unbuckled, and half a granola bar in his mouth. He really can't afford to be late today, of all days. He is just going to have to finish buckling and buttoning everything on the subway. If he makes it on time for the last train that will get him to work on time, that is.

He rushes down on the subway station stairs, weaving his way in and out of the crowd below him. Luckily for him, his height is enough to part most of the crowds that could have swallowed up anyone else. He basically jumps through the subway turnstile, apologizing to the young woman he almost knocked over with his leap. 

_I’m almost there,_ he thinks to himself as he crosses through the crowd into his platform.

He takes a deep breath as he finally makes it through the entrance. Just long enough, to watch his subway car leave the station.

 _Yeah, I’m fired._ He thinks as he slouches down on the nearest bench. 

The people around him just keep walking by, continuing with their meaningless conversations, not giving the dejected Kageyama even a passing glance. One young man even trips over one of Kageyama’s feet that was stretched just a bit farther from the bench and doesn’t even say a word. No angry commentary on how Kageyama should be more conscientious with his height or apology for hitting his foot. It’s almost like this 6’0 giant, who could tower over more than half the people in this station, doesn’t exist. 

And although he won’t show it on his face, he doesn’t hate everything about it.

“I’m sorry, Kageyama, but we’re going to have to let you go.”

Kageyama stares deadpanned from across his manager’s desk that, at this moment, feels more like an ocean’s distance rather than the three feet it really is. His manager had called him into her office as soon as Kageyama walked out of the elevator he dreaded every day when he came into the building. He knew exactly what she was going to say when he walked into her office though. He wasn’t by any means the worst employee in the office, but he was also nowhere near the best. And although there were others that performed worse than him, he had the “least drive at the company” and didn’t offer anything to the “office culture.” Which Kageyama knew was corporate code for everyone hating his guts. 

Which, new flash, is mutual. Or, more aptly, was mutual.

“Is that all?” Kageyama asks before pushing his chair away from her desk. Even though she had been at the company for over ten years, the only thing that has any personal touch in her entire office is a picture of a dog on her desk. And, if the rumors were true, is actually a stock photo she had put into a new frame. But Kageyama was never one to join in on office gossip, or anything really outside of the company mandated 8 am-5 pm workday, one hour lunch, and two fifteen-minute breaks.

“You know, Kageyama,” his manager says as she rubs her forehead. “You really could have made something of yourself here. Do you have anything to say for yourself?” She looks up at Kageyama, but he notices that her eyes didn’t actually meet his. 

“Yeah.”

His manager looks up at him, something like misplaced hope in her eyes.

“Who should I speak to in HR to get this all finalized?” He continues.

His manager stifles a laugh before continuing. “You really are something, Kageyama. You know that?”

Kageyama doesn’t respond. He only lifts his eyebrows in question. 

“You can go speak to Kindaichi in HR about your severance package and all that.”

Kageyama nods his head slightly before starting for the door. He had never been fired from a job before and, to be completely honest, he could have sworn he would have felt different. His hands aren’t shaking. His heart isn’t racing. It’s almost like, he couldn’t care less.

“Before you go,” his manager speaks up. “I have one last question for you.”

“Yeah?” Kageyama asks without turning around.

“If you hated it here so much, as I and everyone on our team could see, why did you apply here in the first place?”

Kageyama thinks back to when he first moved to this metropolis after graduating college, leaving the handful of people he knew behind. To chase after a dream he had imagined for himself. To live in a big city apartment, have his own space that he could call his own, to be his own person. Where he could reinvent himself. And how, when he did finally make it to this city and he signed the lease for his first apartment and went out to more interviews than he could count, he had started to feel hopeless. Like it had all been one huge mistake. 

Until he walked into this company, the last one in his string of interviews that were going nowhere fast, and he prayed to whatever god was listening that he would get a job here so he could live in this dream he had left everything behind to chase. He didn’t even care if his coworkers would end up being petty, back-stabbing snakes (they did), or his manager would refuse any type of critical feedback and make it a living purgatory for him (she would), or the work itself would dig him deeper and deeper into an existential hole of dread and despair that he wouldn’t be able to find a way out of (unfortunately, it would).

“Besides needing a paycheck, I don’t know.” 

Kageyama walks out the door, not turning back to see his manager’s confused expression. He quickly packs up the things at his desk which includes a picture of him and his mom at his college graduation, a smile on his face he wasn’t sure he was able to make anymore, and the water bottle that Oikawa had signed for him, promising that when he made it big in the tech industry as an entrepreneur, he could sell it for big bucks. 

_I hope Oikawa’s dream is coming true even if he was a huge asshole sometimes,_ Kageyama thinks to himself before walking back to the elevator for the last time. 

He knows he won’t miss this office at all, even if it is his only source of income that could keep him in this city that he had dreamed of for what seemed like the better part of his life. He won’t miss the water cooler where the snakes congregated to feast on their newest morsel of unsubstituted news. He won’t miss the garish fluorescent lights that threaten to make anyone go blind. And he definitely won’t miss the half-hearted, hopelessly ironic slogans, “Smile, you’re here” and “Life’s better with us” that were plastered on the walls of their otherwise, barren office space.

But as he pushes the buttons he had, for days upon days, used to escape this gray-toned hellscape, he can’t help but feel empty and want to mourn for this dream that was coming to its end. 

But maybe some dreams are meant to end, even if we try our hardest to stay asleep.

* * *

Kageyama jolts awake when the bus comes to a stop. He can’t remember how long he had been asleep, but it must have been a good amount of time given that the woman who had sat next to him ten stops before had left and he hadn’t even noticed. And the fact that he had been able to see that same boy in a dream. although he still cannot recall his face. Just his distinct orange hair.

“Last stop, Crow’s Landing,” the bus driver announces from the front. 

Kageyama looks around and there is only one other person on the bus, an elderly woman who is clearly old enough to be his grandmother, although she had passed away a while ago. He grabs his suitcase from the rack above him, puts on his backpack, and begins his walk towards the front of the bus. The woman is having some trouble with her luggage, so he grabs it for her with ease.

“Thank you, young man,” the woman says kindly.

“Oh, uh,” Kageyama mutters out. Sure, people back in the city said “excuse me” most times when they pushed their way through crowds and “Thank you’s” and “You’re welcome’s” when ordering their overpriced lattes. But this is something different. Like she actually means it. “You’re welcome, miss.”

“Are you visiting family?” The woman asks as he helps her down the bus stairs.

“Yes,” Kageyama responds. “My mother recently moved back here and I’m in between apartments, so it seemed like a good time to visit her.”

Kageyama's openness surprises him. He can’t remember the last time he had said more than two words to someone in the city, let alone a complete stranger. But there is something about this woman and this town that just speaks to him.

“Ah, that’s nice.” The woman lets go of Kageyama’s arm after he leads her to the station building. “I’m sure your mother must be thrilled to have her son home.”

“Yes, she is.”

“Well, make sure not to lose sight of what’s and who’s important,” the woman says somewhat cryptically. “City boys tend to do that when they leave the nest.”

“How did you-” Kageyama begins to ask. But when he turns to look at the woman, she’s gone.

He contemplates this for a moment but chops it up to the fact he had chosen to leave the city on the midnight bus, even though a morning bus would have been much more convenient. But when he looks up from the ground, he isn’t annoyed at himself anymore. He immediately remembers why he wanted to arrive in Crow’s Landing in these early morning hours when the sky is the perfect mixture of light blue and green with just the slightest hint of purple receding in the distance. When the mountains to the east shine like a crown of light is slowly being placed on their magnificent heads. When the birds begin humming their tunes, that had only just the day before in the city made Kageyama want to throw his alarm clock at them.

“Tobio!”

Kageyama turns around to see a woman wave from outside her car. He walks to her briskly, noticing the breath from his mouth form warm mist around him. And even though it did this in the city too, this mist is so much better.

“Hi, mom,” Kageyama says before he wraps her in a tight embrace. Kageyama may be 6’0 but his mom stands proud at her 5' 6, a height difference that he had once thought embarrassing. But as he lays his head on hers, he couldn’t imagine it any other way.

He didn’t want to admit it when he was curled up in his city apartment bed, with only the constant ambulance and police sirens to keep him company, but he missed his mom. He missed this feeling of being with someone that cared for him like no one else ever could. Someone that would always be there for him, even after so many years apart.

“I’m so glad you made it,” his mom says before wiping away small droplets of tears from her eyes, still wrapped in his hug. 

“Me too, Mom. Me too,” he says softly into her hair. It smells just like he remembered. Like sweet tea and love. If love could be bottled up in a shampoo, that is.

“Okay,” she says once Kageyama lets her go even though he didn’t know if he could. “Let’s get your… is that all you brought with you?” She looks around him to the backpack on his back and the medium-sized suitcase next to him.

“I didn’t have that much in the city,” he responds. “My suits were rented, and the apartment came furnished. It was kinda like living in a glorified hotel.”

“Well, you’ll be getting the five-star treatment at my new house,” his mom says before taking his backpack and putting it in the trunk along with his suitcase. They get in the car and she places her hand on Kageyama’s cheek. “My baby’s home,” she says with tears in her eyes.

“I-” Kageyama used to despise it when she called him her baby, especially when she had let it slip out in front of his friends from high school. But he can’t help but smile at this familiar term of endearment and this tender touch. He didn’t realize how much he needed it. “I’m home.”

“And Ukai’s Pharmacy is still there,” his mom points out as they drive down Main Street. “And Takeda’s Preschool, and-” his mom stops at a red light. “Do you remember that frozen yogurt place your father and I used to take you?”

Kageyama nods before turning his head to look out the window again. It’s almost like this entire town, from its citizens to its buildings have been stuck in time for the past twenty years. If it wasn’t for the lack of phone booths and the fact that people were all using cellphones, Kageyama might have believed it too. Sure, he had only spent the latter half of a year of his twenty-seven-year long life here in this small central Pennsylvania town. But, just like for his mom apparently, it holds a certain kind of meaning to him that he is desperate to rediscover. 

“And on that note,” his mom continues before pulling into a street parking space. “I have to run in to grab a prescription.”

“How does the frozen yogurt shop have to do with- and she’s gone,” Kageyama says, smiling to himself.

He hasn’t seen his mom since his college graduation which he at first didn’t really think he would mind. Wasn’t it every boy’s dream to fly away from the nest and only visit for holidays and the occasional wedding or funeral? But when posed that question, Kageyama would have failed it as well as he never made the effort to take the short trip to New Hampshire where his mom had lived since they moved away from this town. He didn’t even visit to spend Christmas or Thanksgiving or either of their birthdays with her. 

But sitting in this car, he finally realizes how much he’s missed her. He missed her absentmindedness that had once annoyed him and his father to no end. He missed the way her hair smelled like security. And, of course, he missed the way that he knew she would always be here for him. Like now, when he is in between jobs, apartments, cities, and directions in his life. 

He taps his fingers on the glove compartment box to pass the time. Once that loses its appeal though, he takes out his phone for the first time since the bus when he paused the music he had been listening to. His fingers hover over the social media apps he hasn’t opened since he left the city. At one point, he had kept his his profiles all up to date with his town, his job, and other credentials he could brag about to show everyone that he had cut himself off from after college that he was, in fact, doing well. 

Suffice to say, his profile is not updated with the most recent development in his life. How would it look to his college acquaintances he once thought he was so better than, whose names are slipping away from Kageyama’s mind every day, if he wasn’t actually doing well? Despite all of their objections that his sudden move to the city five years before might have been too rash? 

Kageyama decides against diving into that rabbit hole of judgment and aimless self-critique based off of other people’s heavily doctored and filtered lives and instead closes his eyes. Even though he had slept through most of the bus ride, he still isn’t completely rested up from the trip. Contrary to popular belief, a bus filled with a bunch of strangers on roads that could benefit from multiple pavements isn’t the best place to catch up on sleep. And if he is able to go to sleep for long enough, he might be able to catch another glimpse of the person he has been dreaming about more often every day since he was fired. That boy with the orange hair, who as of Kageyama’s most recent dream, is very clearly holding on tight to a swing, his back to him, as it goes higher and higher above a creek. He desperately wants to see him again.

“Honey, I’m back.”

Kageyama’s eyes jolt open to the sound of his mother’s voice coming from his left. He wasn’t able to go back into that dream world in the short time his eyes were closed. He isn't even sure he had even been able to go to sleep at all.

“Oh, hi Mom,” Kageyama replies groggily.

“Don’t worry Tobio,” his mom caresses his hair tenderly. “We’re going to head back to my house and you can sleep in a warm bed instead of an uncomfy car seat.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Kageyama says as she pulls out of the parking spot. “What did you need to pick up anyway?”

“I-” His mom sighs as she passes the aforementioned frozen yogurt shop. Kageyama quickly notes how it seems to have stayed stagnant in time, just like the rest of the town, with the same cartoonish crow eating a soft-serve frozen yogurt on the roof. “You’re an adult so I won’t keep anything from you. But my thyroid has been acting up again. So my doctor and I are trying a new prescription to see if it helps.”

Kageyama gulps silently. He remembers how, when he was in high school, his mom had dealt with a health scare. He had been too young and too self-involved, as an adolescent and teenager generally is, to really understand what it all meant. And to be fair, he was just a kid, a preteen, and a teen and the severity of anything health related wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. But now he is a twenty-seven-year-old who has dealt and is dealing with his own demons, so this sudden revelation isn’t something he is going to take as lightly. 

“I don’t mean to unload this on you, given your situation, Tobio,” his mom continues after Kageyama lets a somewhat awkward silence pass between the two of them. 

He wanted to speak up right then, but his words, like they tend to be, caught in his throat. How is a son that hadn’t called his mom until the week before he arrived in her town supposed to respond to something like this? He wants desperately to say something, anything but all that comes out is:

“Oh.”

“You never were the best with your words,” his mom says before turning down a dirt paved road. “I think you get that from your father. Of course, he did know how to use his words when he was angry or drunk,” she laughs to herself but stops when she sees Kageyama’s expression.

“Are you going to die, Mom?”

“Oh, sweetie, no,” his mom reassures him as she turns down an even more uneven road, littered with gravel and holes that had never even seen good days. For its small-town charm, Crow’s Landing really could use much better infrastructure. At least in this part of town. “Well, of course, I’m going to die-”

Kageyama’s eyes widen enough to garner a small chuckle from his mom.

“Eventually,” she continues. “But I have a feeling that this old thyroid,” she pats the bottom part of her neck. “Won’t be what turns me in. Not just yet.”

“Mom, that doesn’t make it better.”

“Maybe not, but I have hope and I trust my doctor,” his mom ruffles his hair. This, like most things his mom used to do when he was a teenager, is something he used to hate but, right now, can’t think of anything else he wanted her to do.

“Okay, Mom,” Kageyama says after unbuckling his seatbelt. “I just don’t want you dying on me now that I’m finally back after-”

“Five years, two months, and thirteen days,” his mom says like it is second-nature.

“You- you kept count of the days since my college graduation?”

“I don’t want to answer that without my lawyer present.”

“And you haven’t changed at all.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Have you?

* * *

“The weeds are so big here!”

Kageyama runs after the voice that he can hear over the rustling of the weeds and tall grass against the wind. The sky is a pastel light blue and the sun is shining brightly in the sky. The birds are chirping their songs above and around him. But he can still very clearly hear that voice, just out of reach, but so achingly familiar. 

“I’m going to scream because I just can!” The voice calls out before letting out a ferocious scream. Not out of fear or anger but of pure joy. Out of unbridled excitement because, as it had stated, it just could.

Kageyama runs through the tall weeds, pushing them away from his face and moves in the direction that the voice just screamed from. Maybe this time he will be able to find this boy with his tangerine hair and finally find an answer to this question he isn’t even sure why he has. Why has this boy taken over the one part of his life that he loved because he actually has some semblance of control during dreams? And why can’t he just summon this boy in front of him like he can control every other aspect of his dreams?

“Where are you?” He calls out, desperately running out of energy. 

He looks down and sees that his feet are much smaller than they had been when he went to sleep. And notices that his hands are much smaller too, without the scars of life he had picked up in twenty-seven years. And finally realizes that, while yes these weeds are taller than most, they aren’t extraordinarily tall; he’s just much, much shorter than before.

“I’m over here!”

Kageyama turns to his right and runs forward.

“No, not that way!” The voice calls out again. “I’m over _here_!”

Kageyama huffs out before turning around again in the direction he had come from and runs forward.

“You’re getting colder! How about if I scream again?”

“Anything! I don’t like this game anymore,” Kageyama pouts and crosses his arms on his chest.

“Oh, you’re no fun,” the voice says before screaming one last time. This time though Kageyama hears it immediately behind him. That familiar, jovial scream. One that he can remember reciprocating once upon a time.

“Ahhhh!” He screams back as he turns around. All he sees once he opens his eyes is a flash of orange hair amidst the tall weeds. And a small hand becoming smaller as it hides in the brush. “No, don’t run away!”

“You have to chase me if you want to find me!”

“Okay, okay!” Kageyama relents before running in the direction he had just seen the hand and orange tint. H

e pushes past even more weeds and grass until he reaches an open lawn. And a big house at the end of it. A house he instantly recognizes. With its slanted rooftops, and chimney that never actually worked, and the porch that has one floorboard too high and if you step on it the wrong way, the other side of the board will creep up. A pitcher of ice-cold sweet tea sits on the kitchen windowsill, sweating with anticipation for someone to drink it.

“Tag, you’re it!” 

Kageyama feels a tap on his shoulder and he turns around, face to face with the boy he has been chasing all this time. The orange hair is so bright in the sunlight and his hands are just as small as he remembers. But his face. He can’t seem to make out any special features on it. Like he can’t remember a thing about it.

“Who are you?” He asks before the boy runs across the lawn, back into the weeds. 

“You’ll have to catch me to find out!”

“No, come back!” Kageyama yells across the lawn, holding his hands out like they would magically make the boy return. He knows this is a dream because he had just been a twenty-seven-year-old not that long ago. But then why did it all feel so real?

“Honey? Come get some tea before all the ice melts,” his mom’s familiar voice calls out to him from the kitchen window. Her long dark hair, softly moving back and forth in the breeze. 

“Okay, Mom!” Kageyama responds. He looks back into the weeds at the edge of their property and can swear he sees that same tuft of orange hair peeking itself out of them. 

“If you’re thirsty, come get some tea too!” He calls out, beckoning the boy with the nondescript face to join him. 

“But then you’ll tag me and that’s cheating!”

  
“But the sweet tea is so good!” Kageyama laughs. “And I promise, I won’t tag you.”

“Okay…” the boy appears from the weeds, small pieces of grass and leaves stuck in his hair. “But after the tea, we go back to playing tag.”

“Deal!,” Kageyama says before placing his palm over his heart. 

He watches his mom pour the tea into a glass for him and hand it to him. She is about to walk away from the window before Kageyama speaks up. “What about my friend?”

“Oh, of course,” she responds with a small laugh. “I can’t forget about him.” She pours out another glass and pushes it to the edge of the window. 

The orange-haired boy takes the glass with parched eyes and pours back in one big gulp. Kageyama laughs as the boy steadies himself from the immediate sugar rush and liquid bloating.

“Now, make sure to come back in when the sun starts to set. Okay, Tobio?”

“Okay, Mom,” Kageyama replies nonchalantly. 

He finishes his sweet tea, gives his mom a quick kiss on the cheek, and readies himself to run after his friend. He doesn’t even care anymore that he doesn’t know this boy’s name and can’t remember his face when he looks away from him for even a moment. All he cares about at this singular point in time is tagging this orange-haired boy who so desperately wants to scream again like a ferocious animal, hidden in the weeds.

And Kageyama wants to do that too. Before he goes back to being an adult who has learned civility. 

“Good morning, Tobio.”

Kageyama opens his eyes slowly to see the fuzzy image of his mother standing in the doorway. Her fingers linger on the light switch and once she sees that Kageyama’s eyes are just a tiny bit open, she switches it on.

“Oh, so bright,” Kageyama says before shielding his face with his hand. “What time is it?”

“It’s time for you to wake up,” she replies before walking over to him and opening the blinds as well. “And don’t give me any of your ‘five more minutes’ crap. It didn’t work when you were a teenager and it sure won’t work now.”

“The sun it bur- and she’s gone,” Kageyama sighs but his mom is already out the door.

Even if she is ordering him to wake up and, if he remembers correctly, will get an ice-cold glass of water to him if he doesn’t, this is still leaps and bounds better than his former alarm clock. Which although he didn’t throw off his third-story apartment like he wanted to do, that thing still had a very unfortunate death in the garbage. That would end up being one of his best memories of those years in the city. Sad.

“Fine,” he grumbles before sitting up on the bed. 

He rubs his hands over his face and takes in a deep breath. He smiles, finally content that he can actually remember this dream. At least most of it, anyway. The most important part being that house. That house he spent so much time in when he was seven years old, twenty years ago. 

“I’m up!” He exclaims as he stretches his arms out and gets up from the bed.

“Good! Come get your breakfast!” His mom calls from the kitchen.

“Coming!” He calls before grabbing the first shirt and pair of pants he can from his open suitcase that he was too lazy to unpack last night. 

He walks out of the small guest bedroom that his mom cleaned out for him the moment he had called her asking if he could spend some time with her, right after telling her that he was fired from his job and leaving the city. As he nears the kitchen, his nose tilts up as the smells from his mom’s cooking waft in. 

“Is that-” He asks once he’s at the door to the kitchen. 

“Yup, your favorite,” his mom replies, holding out a bowl to him. “I made sure the egg isn’t too runny but I think it might be a little too hard…”

“That’s fine, Mom.” Kageyama hugs his mom from the side, holding his bowl in his free hand. “Thanks.”

“I’m not sure how good you were about making yourself breakfast these last five years so I wanted to make sure the first meal you had here is a good one.”

“Mhmm,” he replies, his mouth already full with his breakfast. 

After his parents split up and it was just Kageyama and his mom, it had grown increasingly difficult for her to keep up with raising a kid on her own. But despite all of her shortcomings, she always made sure that he had breakfast, be it a bowl of cereal or this dish he is eating right now. Rice with sesame oil, rice vinegar, and seaweed flakes, topped with half a sliced avocado and an egg in between over easy and over medium. It was always Kageyama’s favorite meal because it tasted delicious and it was made with only half an avocado. He would never have openly admitted it back then, but he really liked the fact that his mom could have the other half.

“Is it alright?” His mom asks as she sits down next to him at her small dining table with her own breakfast bowl. “I haven’t made this in, well, in like five years.”

“It’s amazing.” Kageyama takes another huge spoonful and closes his eyes as he is briefly brought back to those days when it was just the two of them. How could he have left all of this for that dream of a life in the big city, without seeing his mom in those five years? “Mom. I’m sor-”

“You don’t need to apologize, Tobio,” his mom reaches her hand across the table. “We both made mistakes and the important part is that you’re here.” She smiles as he reaches his hand to meet hers. “Oh, but look at the time!” She gasps at her watch. “I need to get ready for work!”

“Work?”

“Oh yes, honey,” his mom says before scarfing down a couple of big spoonfuls of her breakfast. “I thought I told you that. When I moved back here, I got a job as the librarian at the Municipal Library on Main Street. You know the one I used to volunteer at when you started the second grade?”

“Are you sure that’s okay with your condition?”

“Oh, Tobio. I have an overactive thyroid; I’m not dead.” She pats the top of his head. “And besides, it gets me out of the house and mingle with the outside world. You should try it sometime.”

“Alright… I’m just-”

“Worried? Don’t be. I’m your mother. It’s my job to worry about you. Even if you’re old enough to rent your own car and to not be on my insurance. And on that note, do you have any plans today?”

“How does that- you know, never mind,” Kageyama says before finishing his last bite. “I was actually meaning to ask you about the old house. You know the one we lived in when I was seven?”

“The one with the big lawn and the creek in the back?” She replies as she puts all the cookware she used in the sink.

“Yes, that’s the one! Is it still here?”

“Yeah, I drove past it when I first moved back here.” She sighs out the window, looking into her cramped backyard. The weeds are overgrown and the fence could use some work, especially compared to their old house. “I don’t think anyone is living in it, but the owners keep it up. Why do you ask?”

“I want to go see it.”

“Really? Why?”

“I came back here to Crow’s Landing to see you but also because I feel like I’m missing something. I think that house might have the answer.”

“You’re sounding very cryptic and John Hughes, John Green coming-of-age right now, Tobio. It’s a little cliché, isn’t it?”

“I’m surprised you know who John Green is, Mom,” Kageyama says before dodging the kitchen towel she lobbed at his head.

“I’ll have you know that John Green once told me he liked my novels, so there,” she puts her hands on her hip and sticks her tongue out at Kageyama. “And if I’m not mistaken, you were the one who was sobbing at 2 in the morning after finishing the ‘Fault in Our Stars’, going on and on about how ‘some infinities are bigger than other infinities’ or something.”

“Okay, you got me there,” he puts his hands up in surrender. “I know I’m sounding super cliche right now. But I really want to see it. I don’t remember a lot from back then, aside from-” He looks up to his mom who has a sad expression on her face. “Well, you know.”

“Your dad and I constantly fighting?” 

“Yeah, that…” Kageyama says to his side. “And I just want to try to remember more from back then. The good times.”

“I get that, honey,” she says before wiping her hands on the remaining kitchen towel. “How about this? You drive me to work and you can have the car to go on your journey to the past or whatever you want.”

“Really? That would be amazing!”

“It just means you have to get ready in the next ten minutes, or I’ll leave you behind without an ounce of regret.” She winks at him and walks away.

Kageyama smiles to himself. He finally has a plan for what he’s doing next in his life. Even if that plan is just to go visit a house he really just remembers from a dream. He isn’t sure what he’s actually going to find there, be it a house that has seen better days, a porch with the same creaky floorboard, or his lost memories of his childhood. But he’s determined all the same.

This determination fills him up with a feeling he didn’t know he missed until he realized it wasn’t there.

* * *

Kageyama drives down a long driveway, following his phone’s directions. Even if he could boast that he lived in Crow’s Landing at one point in his life, he needed his phone’s navigation more than any local ever would. There was absolutely no way he would have made it to this side of town where the houses were all at least two stories and their land many, many acres without it. Let alone, out of his mom’s neighborhood which had seen better days but was still charming, nonetheless.

But when he actually makes it to the beginning of the driveway, he sighs in relief as he remembers the same signpost that reads: “Fly High.” It had been there when he and his parents moved into that house twenty years ago and, although it could use a fresh coat of paint and the words could be touched up, it is still standing.

He drives farther up the driveway, taking note of the weeds and tall grass that have taken over the plot of land. He sees a few small butterflies flitting to and fro among the sprouting flowers and a bee or two, searching for its new pollination spot. All of Crow’s Landing is so different from everything he had grown used to in the city. And he is so glad that he’s there in this place where weeds and grass can grow without being either torn down for a new, gentrified apartment complex or walled off and labeled a city park where no one actually takes care of it but still somehow has enforced strict rules and curfews that unfairly target the homeless population that the city wants to ignore.

He stops his car abruptly when he notices a young woman with black hair, holding a clipboard in her hand and waving at him from in front of his car. He rolls down his window and she walks up to him, her glasses reflecting from the sun and hiding her eyes. 

“Are you here for the Open House?” the young woman asks, holding out a copy of a real estate listing to him.

“Uhh, Open House?” He asks dumbly. 

He takes the piece of paper and quickly skims it. It reads “$475,000 0910 Crow’s Nest Drive, Crow’s Landing, PA 19610. Beautifully kept farmhouse. Four bedrooms, two and a half baths with a 360 porch and in-unit washer and dryer. Overlooks Crow’s Landing Creek and boasts wonderful daytime and nighttime views of the Aoba Johsai mountain range. Just ten minutes from most shops and dining. Inquire with Kiyoko Shimizu for more information.” Alongside this brief description are pictures of each of the bedrooms, set up with generic but presentable furniture, the porch which from the looks of it, still has that one creaky floorboard, and the big tree in the back that he now remembers so vividly.

This is the place no doubt about it.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Kageyama says before turning off the car and rolling up his window. 

He hadn’t been entirely sure if he was going to have to break into the house to get inside while he was driving here, but this “Open House” is the perfect, legal avenue inside. Although, the fact that it is on the market doesn’t sit too well in his stomach. Sure, he hasn’t lived in this house since he was seven years old but the fact that it’s being sold just feels so weird to him. But maybe that will change once he actually walks in.

“Great!” The real estate agent, who introduces herself as Kiyoko Shimizu, but prefers to go by her family name, says as she shakes his hand. “I would love to show you around this home. The owners aren’t in too much of a rush to get it sold but they do want to make sure that it goes to someone who will take care of it like their own child.”

“That’s a little weird, right?” Kagayema asks as Shimizu leads him up the dirt walkway to the main house.

Kageyama isn’t too well-versed in the world of real estate or versed at all. But he is still sure that when a house goes on the market, the main goal is to get it sold. Or maybe that’s just how it is in these small towns? Where everyone knows each other, and history can be found and remembered on every street corner.

“A little, yeah,” Shimizu replies as she wipes her shoes on a welcome mat at the front of the porch. “The owners, once the house has been sold, said they’ll be putting a new stone walkway like the one that used to be here. So they’re very invested in this property and who will be living in it.”

“If they’re so invested in it, then why are they selling it?” Kageyama asks as he does the same with his shoes. “Why not just rent it?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I think they’re just ready to let it go. Well, let it go with the stipulation that the new owner is someone they trust.”

“Interesting,” Kageyama replies before following Shimizu around the patio.

“Well that aside. As you can see, this is a 360 porch,” she says as they walk around the patio. “It’s wide enough for some lounging patio chairs and even a table so you can sip on sweet tea or margaritas, whatever floats your boat while watching the sunset.”

Kageyama thinks back to what his family had had on the patio when they lived there. He believes they had some chairs and a small table where his mom would sometimes read or write while watching Kageyama play in the yard. 

“And down here,” Shimizu says as they walk down the three steps into the back part of the property. “You can see the tree that overlooks a small river down below. I believe there used to be a swing from the branch over there, but it’s been a while since it was kept up so it probably broke down.”

Kageyama’s eyes widen as he begins to remember that exact tree. It is the same one from his dreams, with the orange-haired boy and the face he can’t seem to remember at all. He can even picture that swing that used to hang from the largest branch, with its frayed rope and a slightly uneven wooden plank.

He smiles as he’s taken back twenty years. Back when the sky was a bright pastel blue and everything seemed possible, and nothing was out of reach. Except for maybe the remote when his parents put it on the top shelf of the credenza. The credenza that is still here in this living room but now with a top-shelf he can reach, according to the flyer. He closes his eyes and everything begins to fall away until he’s finally back there.

“And, this is our new home!”

Kageyama held on tightly to his mother’s hand as they trailed behind his dad. At seven years old, he still wasn’t excited about this move. How come they had to move from Japantown in San Francisco, where he was able to eat all the Japanese candy that he could fit into his mouth at once, all the way across the country, here to a small town in Pennsylvania that was named after one of the scarier birds in the sky? How come he had to move away from the one friend he had, Ryunosuke Tanaka, with only a shaky promise of writing each other letters now that they wouldn’t be spending the summer chasing the stray cats in the alleys or going to second-grade together?

“I know this is a big change, Tobio,” his mom squatted down to meet his eyes. “But Dad’s new job out here is going to be a good thing for us. And besides,” she turned around and spread her arms out wide. “There’s a huge yard for you to run around in and explore! You wouldn’t get that back in J-Town.”

“But how will I get my favorite snacks?” Kageyama looked into his mother’s eyes with fierce determination. “Like matcha Hello Panda and strawberry Pocky and-” Kageyama could have gone on and on about his favorite snacks as he counted them on his fingers. 

But right then, his dad called from the kitchen: “Come on, guys! You’ve got to see this!”

Kageyama and his mother walked into the house, Kageyama pulling his small, Doraemon suitcase behind him. To his seven-year-old chagrin, he was disappointed to find out his suitcase did not, in fact, have a pocket that could store anything and everything like his favorite cartoon character could. 

“What is it, Haruichi?” His mother asked as the two of them walked through the living room. 

“I knew this place was going to be good, but this is just great, Elizabeth,” Kageyama’s father called from the backside of the porch.

His father, Haruichi Kageyama, had immigrated from a medium-sized town in Miyagi Prefecture when he was eighteen and decided to study abroad. He was going to prove to his family that he could, in fact, make something of himself and grab a piece of the “American Dream” that he had always been told about growing up. Especially post-World War II when the whole world had its eyes on Japan and America. With the money he had saved up all throughout high school from multiple part-time jobs and doing odds and ends for his neighbors and the amount provided by his hopeful grandparents, he set off for that dream in foggy San Francisco.

His mother, Elizabeth Christiansen, was from that small state of New Hampshire in an even smaller coastal town where nothing ever happened except the occasional ship coming into the harbor for refueling. She longed for adventure in the “great wide somewhere” that she always read about in books, where things just “happened”. So when she received a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious university in San Francisco after submitting one of her short stories, she took it and ran.

And it was there in the first class of their college careers, Intro to Humanities, where the two of them met. His father had overslept because of jet lag that wouldn’t go away and his mother had gotten lost on her way to the lecture hall. Their professor made the two of them announce themselves to the entire class for being late, garnering the expected snickers from their peers and bonding the two of them ever since. And, against the protests of their friends and families, they got married right after they graduated, moved into a cramped apartment in J-Town, and had Kageyama not long after that. And once they realized that that apartment wouldn’t be big enough once he grew taller than five feet, they decided to move. 

Which is what brought the Kageyama’s, their hopes, dreams, and all, to that large farmhouse off the beaten path in Crow’s Landing, Pennsylvania. A picturesque, Appalachian-adjacent town that looked right out of a picture book.

“Is that a swing?” Kageyama exclaimed when he and his mother joined his father on the back porch. 

The backside of the house overlooked a decent part of the lawn and as it stretched on, a large tree was standing and leaned over what looked to be a small river. A creek, if you will. And on that tree, attached to its thickest, sturdiest-looking branch, was a small swing constructed from wood and rope.

“It sure is, Tobio,” his father said as he rubbed the top of his head. “Why don’t you go and check it out?”

“Okay, Dad!” Kageyama exclaimed before running off towards the swing. 

“Don’t go too high, okay?” His mom called after him.

“Okay!” He got to the swing, not anywhere near out of breath. 

He felt the wooden plank that functioned as the seat and rubbed his hands on the rope that was beginning to fray at points along its length. But, when he sat down on the swing, it was very clearly able to hold his weight.

“This is awesome!” He yelled as he twisted and turned himself on the swing. 

He looked back and forth from the creek that didn’t look too deep and the house where his mother and father were busy sweeping the porch and talking about things Kageyama couldn’t be bothered to listen to or care about. He began to swing himself higher but realized his little legs just weren’t going to cut it.

“Want me to push?”

“Wha-?!” Kageyama yelped out, still holding on tight to the rope. “Who’s there?” He turned around quickly, ready to strike whoever had crept up on him like Tanaka had taught him in the first grade. A one-two chop to the side would have his wannabe attacker on the floor in no time. At least if Tanaka’s incredibly not-detailed lesson was to be trusted.

“Hi!” 

A boy around his same age and height with bright orange hair stood behind him, with a smile so big it could be its own flashlight. Not that he would need it, with his hair being brighter and oranger than the tangerines Kageyama’s mother had given him during their multiple-day cross-country road trip to satiate his hunger.

“What’s your name?” The boy asked, still smiling.

“Uhh,” Kageyama looked over this boy’s shoulder to the porch where his parents were just seconds before. They had probably gone inside to begin unpacking. But stranger danger didn’t really apply to kids his own age, right? “I’m Tobio Kageyama, but my friends back home call me Kageyama.”

“Home? Are you from somewhere else?” The boy asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Yeah, we just moved here from San Francisco. We live in that house right there.” Kageyama pointed to his family’s new house and watched as a wooden plank on the roof was blown away by a sudden gust of wind. Both of them laughed. 

“That house is so big and cool!” The orange-haired boy exclaimed before running in a circle around the swing. “I’m Hinata Shouyou, but my friends call me Hinata!”

“Are you Japanese too?” Kageyama asked, surprised to find someone whose friends called him by his last name as well. What were the chances that the first person he meets in this state, so far from his J-Town roots, is Japanese as well?

“Yeah! I am!”

“Wait, does that mean there’s… Hello Panda here?” Kageyama’s mouth begins to water at the thought that he might actually be able to get his hands on some of that matcha goodness. 

“Hello… Panda?” Hinata looked up thoughtfully. “I don’t know that one but we do have Pocky! My favorite’s the strawberry one!”

“Me too!”

“You’re cool, Kageyama!” Hinata said before rolling up his sleeves on his already short-sleeved shirt. “Want me to push you on the swing? My record is seven feet, at least that’s what my sister said.”

“Okay!” Kageyama held on tight to the ropes and braced himself for Hinata’s push. 

Before he knew it, he was starting to fly just a bit higher over the ground. He had always kept his eyes closed when he used the swings back in the playground of his elementary school, but this time around, he felt different. “Higher!” He exclaimed as he came back towards Hinata. 

“You got it, Kageyama!”

Hinata was helping him fly, just like his first name. Tobio being derived from the kanji for Flying Hero. And at that moment, almost seven feet above the ground, he felt like one. 

“Wooo!” Kageyama exclaimed as he felt the wind through his hair and his distance from the ground. A part of him wanted to jump and actually fly, but he knew he would probably get hurt if he didn’t land in the creek and his parents would be really mad if he did that on their first day in the new house. Maybe next time.

“Tobio! Time for lunch!” His mother called from the back porch. 

“Oh, that’s my mom. I better go,” Kageyama said during one of his last swings. 

“Oh okay,” Hinata replied before stepping back from the swing so Kageyama could try to slow himself down.

Once Kageyama was able to plant his two feet on the ground, he turned back towards Hinata. “Hey, Hinata, do you live around here?”

“Uhh,” Hinata looked down at his shoes. They were scuffed up around the edges and looked like they could use some help. “Yeah, I do. I like this creek a lot.”

“Do you wanna come over tomorrow, too?” Kageyama asked. 

He had never been this forward or excited about a new friend. Maybe it’s because he was really excited to meet another Japanese kid when he thought he wouldn’t meet one again until he went to college at least. Or maybe it was because he really liked having someone to push him on the swing. Or maybe it was just a lot of things.

“Sure!” Hinata smiled before looking into the tall grass at the edge of the Kageyama’s new property. “You better go before your mom gets mad. I’ll see you later, Kageyama.”

“See ya!” Kageyama waved at Hinata as he ran into the tall grass and weeds. Kageyama ran back to the house, finally noticing that his stomach was beginning to grumble. After all, he had only had a tangerine that morning when his family made their last stretch of the drive to their new home.

“There you are, Tobio,” his mom said as he walked into the kitchen. 

His parents had already unpacked quite a bit of their kitchen appliances and non-perishable groceries that they had brought. Kageyama’s last box of matcha Hello Panda biscuits being one of them. 

“Can I have some Hello Panda?” He asked, reaching towards the open cabinet where his delicious matcha paste-filled biscuits were waiting.

“Not until after we have lunch,” his mom replied, handing him three placemats. “Please go set the dining table,” she tilted her head towards the dining room where his dad was tinkering with one of the power outlets. “And I’ll bring our sandwiches out, okay?”

“Okay, Mom. But then I get Hello Panda after.”

“You drive a hard bargain, but,” she shook his hand firmly. “A deal’s a deal.”

Kageyama smiled and walked into the dining room, nearly tripping on a floorboard that was just a slightly bit ajar. “Whoa!” He squeaked out before catching himself on the back of one of the dining room chairs. 

“You okay there, son?” His dad asked, turning his head from whatever he was working on.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Kageyama replied before putting down the placemats. “Mom is going to bring our sandwiches.”

“Great! I’m starving,” His dad rubbed his stomach and wiped his forehead. 

He was all sweaty. But Kageyama didn’t get why working on what looked to be a standard power outlet had made his dad look so beat. What Kageyama didn’t know at the time though, was that while he was busy having a grand old-time on the swing, his dad had unpacked almost all of their heavy pieces of luggage, set up the family computer in one of the downstairs rooms, and fended off a family of opossums that had made their home underneath the west side of the porch. “Did you have fun in the yard?”

“Yes, Tobio, how was it out there? You looked like you were having a lot of fun,” his mom said as she brought in their three sandwiches. She had become adept at balancing three plates with only her two arms over the years. One could say she was a pro. 

“I had lots of fun!” He said in between bites of his turkey sandwich. “I even met one of the neighborhood kids! He’s Japanese and likes strawberry Pocky like me.”

“Oh yeah?” His dad commented, pushing up his glasses. “Maybe he can come over once we get everything unpacked.”

“That would be wonderful!” His mother exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “I can even make that sweet tea I haven’t made in a while!”

“Ooo, sweet tea…” Kageyama sighed, remembering the last time his mom had made her house-famous, not yet world-famous but soon to be, sweet tea. It was probably the first-grade end of the year party where his mom came in as a volunteer to help his teacher watch the kids. Having a mom who could work from home writing all kinds of books was really great.

“Then it’s settled!” His dad chimed in. “We’ll fix up the house a bit more and then we’ll have Tobio’s new friend visit. It’s never too early to make friends, especially when school won’t start for another two months, right?”

Kageyama slumped in his chair slightly. In the reverie of his mom’s promised sweet tea and having his new strawberry Pocky-loving friend over, he had completely forgotten that come mid-August, he would have to start school again. With a whole new class where he would know absolutely no one. Except maybe Hinata! He got excited again and sat up. He was even more determined to help his dad now. “Okay, Dad, let’s fix up the house now.”

“After lunch my little handy-man” his mom laughed and continued eating her sandwich.

Kageyama was glad his feet couldn’t touch the floor yet because he was able to swing them back and forth in all of this excitement. He was finally starting to feel better about this move. And he couldn’t wait to see his newfound friend again. Oh! And maybe even show him his new room, once he, himself, got to see it and decorate it with the stuff he was able to bring from J-Town.

This was going to be exciting!

“And this is the living room,” Shimizu says after ushering Kageyama in from the kitchen. They had finished their tour of the exterior and she had explained how the kitchen had been remodeled in the mid-2000s with more efficient kitchen appliances, while also keeping the rustic, farmhouse decor.

Kageyama follows her, making sure to take all this in. Sure, some of the furniture had been replaced and that one panel in the living room wall that had been askew seemed to have been fixed, but this was, no doubt, the same living room he had spent the summer of his seventh year in. The same one he had shown Hinata around just like Shimizu was doing now for him. He walks toward the window overlooking the front yard and can clearly see the same path Hinata always took when he used to come to his house to ask if he wanted to play tag in the weeds or play on the swing or pretend to be astronauts.

“Is everything alright, Mr. Kageyama?” Shimizu asks Kageyama after she notices that he’s been staring out the window for a tad bit longer than normal.

“Oh, yeah,” he turns around, somewhat embarrassed. “Just thinking about how great the view from this window is.”

“If you think that’s great, you’ll be floored at how great it is from upstairs. Follow me.”

Kageyama slowly starts in her direction. He makes sure to touch every piece of furniture that he remembers being there when he lived in this house twenty years ago. From the couch that was still the same, save for some upholstery that was done, to the credenza that his parents always used to put the TV remote on the top shelf when it was time for him to go to bed. He doesn’t even need to reach his arms over his head to touch that shelf anymore. The wonders growing over two feet in twenty years will do to someone. 

As he takes the first step up the stairs, he looks back towards the rest of the living room and thinks back to those days, lounging around in that room doing nothing in particular but still having the best time ever.

“Mom, Dad, this is Hinata Shouyou, but I call him Hinata!”

Kageyama and his family had spent the past few days tidying up the house and finding possible places to put up some of their decor and places where spiders and other gross bugs might want to make their home. And when they determined those, his dad was ready with his bug spray and other pesticide products that only a professional should really be handling. But his dad was a structural engineer who had been contracted to be one of the lead engineers for all of Central Pennsylvania’s train tracks, so he was at least a professional at something, right?

So, when they were finally able to reenter the house after calling an professional exterminator to clean up the mess that his father had made and everything was finally unpacked, Kageyama was able to invite Hinata into his house. Before then, Hinata had just shown up around the yard and convinced Kageyama into playing tag and hide-and-seek and Pirate Treasure hunt with him while his parents were busy with the grown-up parts of moving one’s family and life across the country.

“Why hello there, Hinata,” his mom squatted down to meet his eyes. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“You too, Mrs. Kageyama,” Hinata bowed his head politely before looking up at Kageyama’s dad. 

Kageyama’s dad was looking right at Kageyama, a scowl on his face, and his eyebrows were scrunched down behind his glasses. 

“Honey,” Kageyama’s mom nudged her head in Hinata’s direction. “Aren’t you going to say hi to Tobio’s friend?”

“Oh,” his dad pushed up his glasses. He nodded his head firmly. “Hello, Hinata, it’s nice to meet you.”

“You-” Hinata looked down slightly, averting his eyes from Kagayema’s father. “You too, Mr. Kageyama.”

“Why don’t you go show Hinata your room, Tobio?” Kageyama’s mom told her son. “Your dad and I will start dinner in the kitchen.”

“Okay, Mom!” Kageyama replied before leading Hinata up the stairs. 

When they first unpacked, Kageyama was allowed to choose which room he wanted. After almost no time for his decision, he chose the room that overlooked the creek and the tree with the swing. When he had walked into the room and saw that scene, he knew that had to be his room. And he also saw exactly where he was going to put everything he had packed in his Pikachu backpack.

“Your room is so cool!” Hinata exclaimed before running to Kageyama’s Pikachu bedspread. There was a giant Pikachu on the top sheet with lots of Pokeballs around it. “Who is this yellow mouse?” He asked, pointing at Pikachu’s face.

“That’s Pikachu from Pokemon!” Kageyama replied before laying on his bed. “You mean, you haven’t watched an episode of Pokemon?”

“We don’t have a TV at my house…” Hinata replied, looking down at his socks.

“Okay, after dinner we can watch the Pokemon movie with Mewtwo!”

“I don’t know what that is but okay!” Hinata replied before walking around the rest of Kageyama’s room. 

He inspected every nook and cranny of his desk that was littered with little Pokemon action figures and one big Doraemon plushie that had a fully functional pouch. Although it wasn’t able to produce awesome futuristic gadgets to help in wanky situations like in the TV show, it could still hold two matcha Hello Panda packs.

Hinata then became incredibly focused on the mini globe on Kageyama’s desk that had mini flags on Japan and California.

“What’s this?” He asked pointing to the flags on the globe.

“Oh, that’s my globe!” Kageyama replied, hopping off his bed. “I put flags on every place I’ve been to so far. I just moved from California and I went to Japan when I was really little but I don’t remember a lot about it except for the snacks!”

“Why don’t you have one for Pennsylvania?”

“Oh!” Kageyama exclaimed before opening his small desk drawer. He pulled out a plastic box that had mini flags with tacks. “Here we go.” He stuck a flag right on Pennsylvania and smiled.

“That’s so cool!” Hinata exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Are you going to visit every country?”

“I mean,” Kageyama rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. “I don’t think anyone can visit _every_ country but I do want to go to lots of places!”

“Me too! I want to go to China to see the pandas, and Australia to see the kangaroos, and Canada to see the moose, and-” Hinata kept listing more and more places on the globe. 

So many that Kageyama began to tune him out subconsciously as he thought about how much he wanted to go to Japan again to see his Japanese grandparents because he knew they would give him more yummy Japanese candy that he couldn’t even get in J-Town. And now he couldn’t wait to fill up his globe some more.

“-and Antarctica to see the penguins!” Hinata finished, having to count on his right hand for the second time to list all of the places. “Maybe I should get a globe too!”

“That’s a lot of places, Hinata,” Kageyama replied. “Are you sure you’ll be able to go to _all_ of them?”

“Sure! Why not? We’re only seven! And I plan on living until I’m at least one hundred! So that means…” Hinata looked down at his fingers and began to put them down one by one. “I have… uhh… ninety-three years to go to all of them!”

“But what about school?”

“I can visit them during summer vacation, duh!”

“Aren’t we in summer vacation right now?”

“When I’m grown up, duh!!!” Hinata tapped Kageyama on the head. “And you can come too! And then we can put more flags on your globe until you can’t even see anything except for the oceans!”

“Hmmm, okay!” Kageyama smiled in agreement.

“Tobio, time for dinner!” His mom called from downstairs. “Come down and help set the table!”

His stomach growled when he thought of whatever delicious meal his parents had produced. He turned to Hinata who was mimicking Kageyama’s hunger and was rubbing his belly too. Kageyama began to walk to the hallway before he turned to his right and his eyes lit up. “Wanna play a prank on my mom?”

“Okay!”

“Come on!” Kageyama opened the door to his closet and ushered Hinata inside. He quickly closed the door behind them until they were shrouded in almost complete darkness, save for the light coming in through the bottom of the door.

“What are we doing?” Hinata whispered.

“We’re going to scare my mom when she comes up here.”

“But doesn’t she want us-”

“Shh!” Kageyama hushed him with his finger. “She’s coming,” he whispered.

“Tobio, I thought I told you- Tobio?” His mom’s voice asked from outside the closet. “Where are you? I hope you’re not hiding anywhere. Oh, whatever will I do?”

“Boo!” He opened the closet door and the two of them jumped out at his mom.

“Ahh!” She screamed half-heartedly, her hands in the air a bit more dramatic than what would have been natural. She flailed her arms backward with her face still in fake shock. 

“Did we scare you?” Kageyama asked after he finished laughing.

“Yes, yes you did, Tobio,” she replied. “But now you need to go set the table, okay?”

“Okay!” Kageyama replied before taking Hinata’s hand. “Let’s go Hinata! And then we can watch the Pokemon movie after!”

The two of them ran down the stairs into the dining room as his mother smiled back at them. 

“I love okonomiyaki!” Kageyama exclaimed from the dining room, prompting his mother to head down as well. What Kageyama couldn’t have known then, was that his mom had slid her hands over his bedsheets, hoping he would never lose this childlike wonderment over these small things.

“If you’ll excuse me for one moment,” Shimizu says before looking at her ringing cell phone. “I really do have to take this. But please feel free to look around the second floor, Mr. Kageyama.”

“Sounds good,” Kageyama replies, secretly glad that he would have some alone time in the house to explore and, hopefully, reawaken some more long-forgotten memories.

He walks around the bedroom that used to be his and looks out the window. He can still very clearly see the large tree, its branch still very strong. But without the swing that he had spent so much time on in those days. He walks over to the bed that he used to make pillow forts on and slides his hands over the white sheets, clinging to the memory of his old Pikachu bedspread that he now remembers he had thrown out when he turned thirteen and decided Pokemon wasn’t cool anymore.

 _I really was a little brat, wasn’t I?_ He thinks to himself, remembering all the things he used to think were cool and fun until one day, mostly at the insistence of his classmates who were oh so much wiser and experienced, he decided they weren’t anymore. No more Doraemon with his futuristic gadgets. No more Pikachu and its cute red cheeks. No more strawberry Pocky.

He gets up from the bed, making sure to smooth out the small indent he had made on it, and walks over to the desk. It is the same exact desk he had when he was seven, with just some noticeable wood retouching and polishing done around the edges. He opens the small desk drawers, an insatiable bout of curiosity taking over him. He knows he won’t find anything of value or from twenty-years ago, if anything at all, but he still clings on to a small piece of hope that is nestled at the bottom of his metaphorical heart. Inside the drawer are a tiny dust bunny and some eraser shavings that haven’t been cleaned out since the last people who lived in this house, although he doesn’t remember Shimizu ever saying anything about the last tenants.

He closes the drawer, making sure to lift it up just a smidge to ensure that the drawer fully closes. A trick he remembers from his time in that room which one hundred and twenty percent solidifies in his mind the fact that this is the exact same desk he used to practice his multiplication tables on. The same desk that used to hold his Magic Treehouse books that he and his mom would read together while Hinata sat on the floor, just listening to Kageyama read all about Jack and Annie Smith’s adventures in their titular magic treehouse. Kageyama smiles, remembering how excited Hinata had been to learn about a magical treehouse that could send someone anywhere in time and space. And where they could be anything they wanted to be.

“I wonder if it’s still there!” Kageyama says out loud. 

He covers his mouth quickly, hoping that that gesture would prevent Shimizu or anyone from hearing him. He then remembers that’s something Hinata would do too whenever he lost his train of thought or said something that made Kageyama’s eyebrows crinkle in that accusatory way he still does to this day.

Kageyama gets down on his knees and extends his head underneath the desk. He squints his eyes, trying to adjust the lack of light underneath before he remembers that he lives in the 21st century. He pulls out his phone and shines its flashlight up at the bottom of the desk.

“Ha! It’s still there!” He says, this time quietly because he is fully aware that he is talking out loud.

Written on the underside of the desk are a few words written in what he knows is a seven-year-old’s handwriting: Astronaut, Pirate, Musician, Actor, Volleyball Master, and Writer. Although the first four are also crossed out with the same shaky handwriting. It doesn’t take him any time at all to remember why those words are there. 

He and Hinata had written them on that day at the end of summer. A summer that Kageyama curses himself for even forgetting at all.

“I don’t want to go to school!” Kageyama pouted in the back seat of the car, his arms crossed over his chest, and a huge scowl on his face. 

It had been almost two months since Hinata first met his parents and they had dinner together. Kageyama and Hinata kept telling them about how much fun it was running around in the fields playing Pirate Treasure Hunt and how Kageyama was always the captain and Hinata was the first mate. And one time, they even landed on a mermaid lagoon but the mermaids didn’t want to give them their treasure so they had to fight them off with their pirate swords that were actually just sticks. His mom had been particularly invested in this story, asking what the mermaids looked like or what was finally in the treasure chests they were so eager to find while his dad just tried to steer the conversation back to the real world and got visibly irritated when they wouldn’t budge.

Ever since that night, Hinata had been spending a lot more time around their house. He always came around in the middle of the day and followed Kageyama around like an imprinted duck. Like when Kageyama wanted to just watch TV, Hinata was right there beside him, asking who Ash Ketchum or Spongebob Squarepants was while snacking on some of Kageyama’s favorite snacks. Kageyama was also able to introduce Hinata to his favorite Hello Panda biscuits which his parents were actually able to find at the supermarket on Main Street in the “Oriental” section that Hinata told Kageyama about. They would read together, sometimes with his mom, sometimes alone, mostly the Magic Treehouse books and talk about all the places they would go and what they would be if they had their own magical treehouse. One time, they even asked Kageyama’s dad if he would build them one and he waved them off with his hand, seemingly too busy in his own work.

But when they went outside, usually when his mom needed peace and quiet to write or his dad was working from home, it was Hinata’s turn to take the helm. Hinata was the one who showed Kageyama how to run through the weeds across their farmhouse fence and not have them hit him in the eyes all the time. And he brought him down to the creek where they could sit and watch some of the river fish just swimming up and down. He even taught Kageyama how to make braids out of the longer pieces of tall grass and turn them into pretty patterns. Hinata’s were always just a little better than Kageyama’s but with enough practice, Hinata had told him, he would be making the most beautiful grass braids ever. His mom loved each and every one they brought to her and she kept them on her desk as long as she could before they got too old and Kageyama and Hinata were able to replace them with new, even more, intricate ones.

In those past two months, the two of them had become inseparable. Whenever you saw Kageyama, Hinata was close behind. At least until Hinata’s mom, who Kageyama had actually never seen, would come to pick him up at the end of a long day and he would wave bye from the edge of the driveway. Hinata always made sure to yell “See you, later!” instead of “Goodbye!” though. And Kageyama would wait patiently until the next day when he could run around and spend time with his best friend in this world that was that farmhouse, with all of its beautiful things.

“Honey, we’re just going Back-to-School shopping,” his mom said calmly from the passenger seat. “And you always liked picking out school supplies, didn’t you?”

“Hmph,” Kageyama grunted from his seat and looked out the window.

“Don’t ignore your mother,” his dad said coldly from the front seat. His eyes were focused on the road but Kageyama could still see them in the rear-view mirror when he looked up.

“I don’t want to go to school and you can’t make me!”

“Honey, you’ll have fun going to school and making friends,” his mother said.

“No, I won’t! I just want to stay at the house and play with Hinata!”

“Tobio, that’s-”

“That’s enough Tobio Kageyama!” His father yelled, turning around to face him. “You will go Back-to-School shopping with us and you will behave!”

“I- I-” Kageyama whimpered before tears began to fall down from his face. 

His dad had been yelling more often at him and his mom in the past month. Usually over small things like Kageyama forgetting to pick up his clothes from the bathroom after taking a shower or his mom forgetting to turn off the oven after dinner. And his dad was always very cold and distant whenever Hinata was around, which didn’t overlap as much because of his dad’s job but still, it always made Kageyama feel really uncomfortable and sad. 

But recently, his dad’s yells and complaints had been getting even more frequent and louder.

“Haruichi, you don’t need to yell at him,” his mother responded to her husband. “He’s just a kid.”

“A kid who needs to learn to behave!” His dad replied angrily at his wife. “He needs to take this a lot more seriously!”

“He’s only going into the second-grade!” His mom replied, louder than usual. “He’s just being a kid who doesn’t want summer to end, isn’t that right, Tobio?”

Kageyama nodded quickly, sniffling back the tears and runny nose that had shown up. If he had known his little outburst would have gotten his dad to yell at him and his mom, he wouldn’t have said anything. It still didn’t mean he would want to go to school, but if it made his dad stop yelling, then he would go along with this dumb Back-to-School shopping. In J-Town, he always liked looking for the cutest pencil cases and pens and other anime school supplies but now he just wanted this summer to never end.

“Fine,” his dad retorted before pulling into the closest Target to Crow’s Landing which was two towns over. “You will behave next time, or else.”

“Haruichi, stop it,” his mom scolded him.

“O-” Kageyama gulped a little. “Okay, Dad. I’m sorry.”

“Good.”

When they got back from shopping, Kageyama ran right out of the car and basically jumped over the steps to the porch. There, sitting on the porch swing that only went about one foot off the ground if one really tried to swing on it that his dad had built in one of the first weeks of them moving in, was Hinata deeply concentrating on the grass braid he was making.

“Hinata!” Kageyama exclaimed, running up to him. “I have to show you what I got at the store!” He jumped up and down, almost dropping some of the supplies from his plastic bag. “I’m going to be the coolest guy in second-grade!”

“Oh!” Hinata looked up and smiled. “I want to see!”

“Let’s go to my room!” Kageyama took Hinata’s hand and led him up to his room, with his parents trailing behind them, still arguing about something albeit in hushed tones.

“Are your parents mad?” Hinata asked when they were halfway up the stairs. Kageyama looked back at him and noticed that his usually spiky orange hair was drooping ever so slightly. 

“My dad got mad at me for not wanting to go to school next week,” Kageyama replied, worried about Hinata’s hair. He always liked how spiky and happy it looked on his head and didn’t want that to go away. “But we’re okay now because I want to go to school now that I have awesome supplies! I want to show you them!”

“Okay! As long as nobody’s mad at each other, I’m happy!” Hinata smiled and his hair bounced back to its normal bright orange. 

Kageyama thought it was funny that Hinata’s hair could do that so he touched his own hair and was disappointed when it fell back down to the sides of his face. Maybe he would ask his mom to buy him some hair gel so he could make his hair like Hinata’s and they could be matching.

When they got into Kageyama’s room, he dumped the contents of the plastic Target bag on the floor and began to organize everything according to their uses. “This is my Pokemon pencil pouch, although I’m going to put pens in it so it’s not really a pencil pouch… what a weird name!” He laughed which made Hinata laugh as he sat crisscross-applesauce on the floor across from Kageyama. “And these are my new colored pencils for when I want to color and this is my Naruto notebook although my mom said I’m not allowed to watch it until I’m older.”

“Why not?” Hinata asked with his signature tilted head. “Also, isn’t a naruto a fish cake?”

“You don’t know what Naruto is?” Kageyama asked. “It’s a really popular anime for kids older than us but they didn’t have any Doraemon stuff at Target so I got my mom to buy me this.”

“I know Doraemon…” Hinata said, looking down at his shoes. 

“What would you do without me?” Kageyama laughed, wrapping his arm around Hinata’s shoulder. “Maybe when we’re older and my mom lets me watch Naruto, we can watch it together!”

“When we’re older?”

“Yeah!” Kageyama laughed. “First we have to go to school and learn lots of stuff and then we’ll be older and can watch all the cool things like Naruto and those other scary anime that my mom doesn’t want me watching right now!”

“Are you excited to go to school?” Hinata asked, reaching out to look at Kageyama’s new rulers and binders. 

“Yeah, now I am! Aren’t you? It would be so cool if we’re in the same class, wouldn’t it?”

“I-” Hinata pursed his lips for a moment before speaking up again. “I’m homeschooled so I don’t think we will be.”

“You’re homeschooled?” Kageyama’s jaw dropped. “That means we won’t be able to hang out during the day when I’m at school…”

“Hmm,” Hinata put his finger to his mouth and tapped on it inquisitively. “We can still play together after school though! And you can tell me about all the things you learn from your teachers and I can tell you what my mom teaches me!”

“What if we get homeschooled together?”

  
“Uhh… my mom only likes to homeschool me but it’ll be okay! School is important because if we don’t go then we won’t be able to grow up like you said! And then we won’t be able to be what we want to be when we grow up!”

“‘What we want to be’?” Kageyama looked up at the ceiling and tried to remember if he ever thought about that before. He was always so focused on playing in the yard or reading about other people’s adventures that he never really thought about his own.

“Yeah! Like when we’re finally grown up and get to do grown-up things!” Hinata turned around and fixated on Kageyama’s desk. “Let’s write down what we want to be when we grow up so we’ll never forget them!” He grabbed the first pen that he found on the floor and crawled under the desk.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Kageyama asked before joining Hinata under the desk as well. “I don’t want to get in trouble for writing on my desk.”

“It’s okay because it’s not _on_ your desk, it’s _under_ your desk!” Hinata exclaimed. 

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Come onnnnn,” Hinata whined. “If you don’t write them down here, you’ll forget them when you’re old enough to actually do them!”

“Okay, okay,” Kageyama finally relented. “But you go first.”

“Easy!” I want to be an Astronaut!”

“Really? Like in outer space?”

“Yeah!” Hinata said as he scribbled “Astronaut” in sloppy seven-year-old handwriting on the underside of the desk. “Then when I’m in outer space, I can see the whole world and I can put a flag on top of the globe, you know, where the little knob is! And I can have all the Astronaut food that they talk about, you know, in those cool bags and I can go to the moon and all the way to Saturn!”

“But wouldn’t it be lonely up there? And scary?” Kageyama asked.

Space always seemed so cool but he wouldn’t actually want to go up there. Especially not after his parents told him what happened to the Space Shuttle Challenger which didn’t even make it out of the atmosphere on its maiden voyage.

“What if your spaceship explodes?”

  
“Oh, you’re right,” Hinata said, tapping the pen on his forehead. “I’ll change it then!” He crossed out “Astronaut” quickly and handed the pen to Kageyama. “But you go next. I have to think of the next thing I want to be.”

“Can you really do that?” Kageyama asked. Hinata had seemed so set on being a space-man, that it seemed strange he could change it so quickly. 

“Sure! We’re only seven so we have lots of time to think about what we want to be!”

“Hmm, okay.” Kageyama copied Hinata and tapped the pen to the side of his head. 

He realized that both of his parents did this all the time when they were working. His mom when she was stumped by a difficult passage in one of her novels and his dad when the train tracks needed work but they were confusing or something.

“I want to be a pirate!” He wrote pirate under the desk, next to the crossed-our Astronaut. “Then I can go around the world and fight off other bad pirates and find the treasure!”

“But what if your ship sinks? Or the evil pirates capture you and make you walk the plank?” Hinata asked, worry creeping onto his face. “What if your hand gets bitten off by a crocodile?”

Granted, the two of them had just watched Peter Pan with Kageyama’s mom the week before, this last question wasn’t too surprising. 

“Oh, you’re right,” Kageyama replied, crossing out “Pirate” and handing the pen back to Hinata. “It’s more fun playing pirate anyway because we always find the treasure.”

“Yeah, my turn!” Hinata said, before writing his next word on the desk: “Musician.”

“Can you even play an instrument?” Kageyama asked.

Hinata had never mentioned that he could play anything except for maybe the drums when the two of them had found an abandoned tree stump near the creek and decided to have an impromptu drum-off.

“Not yet!” Hinata exclaimed. “But when I’m older, I can learn one and make a cool… uh, folk song, yeah that’s it! A folk song like my mom listens to on her records.”

“A folk song?” Kageyama asked.

The only music he really listened to was the opening songs to his favorite TV shows and whatever his mom listened to in the car. His mom liked to listen to a lot of old music like Fleetwood Mac and Cheese or whatever it was called. He liked the song about dreams that she would always sing to. Was that folk music? 

“Yeah! My mom says that love can be passed down like folk songs and that’s so cool!”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know but it sounds cool! And maybe when I’m older and make a folk song, I’ll get it!”

“But can you even sing?”

“Yeah! I’m the best singer ever! Here, listen!” Hinata cleared his throat. “La la la la la la la la la!” He sang completely out of tune, off-pitch, and without any semblance of rhythm. “See?”  
  


Kageyama put his hands over his ears and wailed dramatically. “Don’t do that again, I’ll go deaf!”

“You don’t gotta be so mean about it,” Hinata pouted before crossing “Musician” off and handing the pen to him. 

“I’m just kidding,” Kageyama said, nudging Hinata with his elbow. Hinata scrunched his nose at Kageyama and both of them laughed. “Maybe I want to be an act-” Kageyama started as he wrote “Actor” under the desk.

“Next!”

“I didn’t even fin-”

“Next!”

“Is this because-”

“Gimme the pen!” Hinata howled before snatching it from Kageyama’s hands. He crossed out “Actor” immediately and started writing his own dream job. “I get to go again because you were mean the last time.”

“Fine, fine.” Kageyama gave up without a fight because he was trying not to laugh at how funny Hinata was being. Like an even littler kid than they already were. 

“This one I’m going to be for sure!” Hinata exclaimed before backing up from the underside of the desk to show Kageyama his beautiful handiwork.

“A Volleyball Master?” Kageyama asked, unsure of what this was. Did Hinata mean the sport volleyball like what people play on the beach?

“Yeah!” Hinata exclaimed. “I’m going to be the best volleyball player in the entire world! I’m going to be on a real-life grown-up team and hit all the volleyballs and win all the games and the crowds will scream my name! I’m going to be the most famous volleyball player in the world!”

“But don’t you have to be tall to play volleyball?” Kageyama asked.

He hadn’t seen many volleyball games in his short seven-years, maybe one when his dad was flipping through channels. And all the players were really tall so they could reach over the net. Neither of them was anywhere near that tall.

“Well, yeah, I’m going to get super tall when I’m older like at least 6 foot 8 inches or even more! And I’ll be the best and tallest volleyball player ever, you’ll see!”

“I don’t think growing works that way though,” Kageyama told him. “My mom said that we all grow to a height that our jeans tell us although I’m not sure what pants have to do with being tall.”

“I don’t care what you say, I’m going to be the best volleyball player, ever. I’m going to be a master and I’ll fly on the court! And even if I’m small, I’ll be like a Tiny Giant or something. I saw a guy on TV once and they said he was a Tiny Giant so I want to be just like him!”

“Okay, Hinata, when you grow up you’ll be a Tiny Giant and be the best volleyball player ever. And I’ll be your biggest fan.”

“Thank you!” Hinata said before handing the pen to Kageyama. “Your turn.”

Kageyama tapped the pen on the side of his head again. He had to come up with something that could beat Hinata’s dream. Something so cool that it would blow Hinata’s socks off. Something that would make him just as famous, or even more famous. Actor was already shot because Hinata was being a sore loser. And with one more tap of his pen, he found it.

“I’m going to be a writer like my mom!” Kageyama said happily before scribbling “Writer” under the desk. “She writes lots of cool books and one time, when we were walking in San Francisco, someone came up to her and asked her for an autograph and a picture!”

“Oooooo, that’s a good one!”

“When we grow up, you’ll see my name in stores everywhere with all my awesome books!”

“You should write one about me when I’m the best volleyball player ever!”

“Deal!” Kageyama held out his hand for Hinata to shake. Hinata took it and the two of them shook on it.

“Wait, I have an even better idea!” Hinata sat up quickly, hitting his head on the underside of the desk. “Ouch!” He said rubbing the top of his head.

“Boke!” Kageyama laughed before following Hinata out from under the desk.

“Hey, you’re a boke!” Hinata shot back and stuck out his tongue. “But anyway, let’s make a promise.”

“But we already shook on it? That you’re going to be the best volleyball player in the world and I’m going to write about you.”

“Yeah, yeah, but a handshake isn’t cool enough!” Hinata exclaimed. “Let’s cross our hearts.”

“Like ‘Cross my heart, hope to die?’” Kageyama asked, looking at his hands.

“Yes! But without the ‘hope to die’ because I don’t like to think about that part.” Hinata put his index finger over his heart and crossed it. “Cross my heart, and hope to fly!”

“Hope to fly?” Kageyama asked before doing the same thing.

“Yeah! Like flying high to our dreams!”

“When we grow up, we’ll fly higher than everyone and we'll still be best friends, I can already tell.”

“Me too!” Hinata smiled. “Wanna go play on the swing? This time you get to push me!”

“Okay, deal!”

The two of them ran out of Kageyama’s bedroom, leaving all his school supplies scattered on the floor. When they got tired from the swing and running around the yard a bit, Kageyama’s mom made sweet tea for the two of them and they drank it while continuing to muse about what they’d do when they grew up. Hinata said that after he was done being a professional volleyball player, he wanted to be a doctor so he could help other volleyball players stay in tip-top shape. Kageyama said he wanted to write until he couldn’t anymore, maybe in one of those big skyscrapers he saw on TV.

When the sun began to finally set over the creek, Hinata told Kageyama it was time for him to go home. And when Kageyama fussed over the fact that he still hadn’t been to Hinata’s house, he just laughed. He said that his mom didn’t want him bringing friends over because his sister always had her friends over and that Kageyama’s house was way more fun anyway because it had the swing and the tall grass and his mom’s amazing sweet tea.

Kageyama took these excuses and didn’t think anything of it, elated that his best friend liked his house so much that he would want to spend all of his time there. And it was nice knowing that he had something that someone else thought was really cool. Like he was special in some kind of way.

Of course, waving “See you later!” at Hinata at the edge of the driveway always left a huge pit at the bottom of his stomach. He wished that Hinata could just stay with them at their house all the time instead of having to leave every day before nightfall with that same wave and smile. But he did like how his “see you later” always had a promise of tomorrow, of seeing his best friend again. 

And of maybe getting to grow up together and realize their dreams, however lofty and unrealistic they might be, together. 

“Cross my heart, hope to fly.”

“Umm, Mr. Kageyama? Are you okay?”

Kageyama wipes away his eyes and retreats from under the desk. He can’t remember when he had started to tear up but the wetness and irritation in his eyes were evidence enough. He had completely forgotten about that promise he had made to Hinata all the way back then. He had even crossed his heart and hoped to fly. The only flying he had done up since then was on a plane and even then he slept through most of it.

 _What would Hinata think about who I’ve become now?_ Kageyama thinks to himself in the second before he realizes that Shimizu is still standing right there, a very concerned look behind her glasses.

“Oh, sorry,” he says, trying to think of the best excuse for why he was both under the desk and crying. Maybe he could say his contact fell out and he had been searching for it. Except, he doesn’t wear contacts. He doesn’t have much time to think however, as he grows increasingly aware of the second hand ticking on his watch. “I- I thought I saw a roach and when I went under the desk, I got a lot of dust in my eyes.”

“A roach?” Shimizu asks, not seeming to believe his half-brained story. “If that’s the case, I can ask the owners when the last time they got an exterminator out here. I remember them telling me about the person who sold them the house trying to pest-proof the house himself which didn’t go well.”

Kageyama recoils in shock for a moment. His dad had tried to pest-proof the house during the first week they had been in the house twenty years ago. Could it be that that was the person Shimizu was referring to? Then that would mean no one had lived in this house since his family had moved away. It has to be a coincidence, of course. There is no way this amazing house could have sat tenantless for that long.

“Come to think of it,” Shimizu says as she flips through her clipboard. “I think the last tenant’s last name was also Kageyama…” 

“What?”

“Yeah, here he is,” Shimizu says, showing Kageyama her clipboard. “Haruichi Kageyama. Would you happen to know him? Of course, you might just have the same last name. There is a surprisingly large community of Japanese people here in Crow’s Landing.”

Kageyama’s eyes widen as this unbelievable fact registers in his mind. No one has lived in this house in the past twenty years. No one has run up and down the hallways with their best friend while pretending to be on Captain Hook’s pirate ship and trying to take down that “Blasted Peter Pan!” No one has sipped on sweet tea their mom made while they recovered from screaming ferociously in the weeds. No one was able to use the swing to fly seven feet over the creek before it apparently disappeared. No one was able to grow up in this house like Kageyama wishes he could have. 

“No, I don’t know him,” Kageyama lies, not wanting to complicate this already faked open house tour. “And I think I better head out now. I need to pick up my mom from work,” he lies again. He just needs to get out of this house right now so he can collect all the thoughts and memories swirling around in his head. 

“Oh, okay. Well please take my card in case you have a change of heart or know of another listing that needs to be sold.” Shimizu hands him one of her laminated business cards that he knows for a fact he’s going to throw away right when he gets back to his mom’s place. Not because he had any ill feelings towards Shimizu but because he just doesn’t want a reminder of this revelation in his wallet any longer than it needs to be.

“Thanks, I’ll keep my ears open.” 

Kageyama is somewhat surprised at how easily he is able to lie to her, even if she is a complete stranger who he’ll probably never run into again unless he is in the market for a farmhouse in Central Pennsylvania that holds all these memories and emotions he didn’t know he has in his heart.

Kageyama rushes down the stairs, a brief image of him and his Hinata running down these same stairs together with Peter Pan and his brainwashed Lost Boys hot on their tails flashing before him. He turns to head to the front door when a memory of Hinata and him curled up on the couch as they listened to his mom type on her computer and Fleetwood Mac played on her record player comes into his view. He reaches for the doorknob when he decides to turn around one last time to take a mental snapshot of this living room. It may look like it was captured in time but now, looking back at it with these emerging memories, he knows it’s something different. His childhood, even if it was only for six months, is in this house, in these rooms, and with it, his treasured memories of his orange-haired best friend. Memories he vows never to forget ever again. 

And a promise that he is even more determined to keep, even if it means chasing after a dream he didn’t know he had forgotten.

“Hinata Shouyou,” Kageyama recites as he types into his laptop.

He had left the house in a hurry and driven straight back to this mom’s new house. He hadn’t even cared that his stomach was telling him to eat lunch or at least a tangerine. But at that moment, he had one and only one thing on his mind. Before he could even think about what he would need to do to be a writer like he had promised Hinata and himself twenty years ago, he felt that he needed to at least find out how Hinata was doing. Had he done better than Kageyama at keeping their promise? Was he able to fly on a volleyball court and be the Tiny Giant he so desperately wanted to be? Was he married?

At first, he thought he would have to go around town, asking anyone and everyone if they knew Hinata Shouyou or the Hinatas at all. Or he would have to go to the library and see if they had copies of all the newspapers from twenty years ago so he could see if Hinata had been in any of them for his, Kageyama assumed, amazing high school volleyball career. Because as Hinata had once told Kageyama when they were recuperating from a long day of running around, he had to be really good in high school if he was ever going to go pro.

But then, Kageyama realized it was the 21st century and there was a much more efficient way of doing research. Maybe he had been too lost in his early childhood, laptop-less, high speed internet memories. Or maybe he was too hungry and too tired and too emotional to think clearly.

Which brought him to his laptop, a half-eaten tangerine folded up in a napkin beside him, and all his determination to find his childhood best friend. What he would do when he is able to find him, he has no idea. But he’ll cross that metaphorical bridge when he gets to it.

“And search,” he says out loud again as he presses search on Google.

Out of the over two million results that popped up in his search, nothing of note shows up. There is no mention of a boy named Hinata Shouyou or his exploits as a professional volleyball player or even a high school volleyball player at all. He does find people with the last name Hinata in his search and takes note of their information but quickly decides that he is creeping dangerously close to obsessive stalker territory and he most likely won’t use that. Unless he scrounges up enough money to hire an actual private investigator to find his long lost friend. Which he also decides is a bit overkill, even if he really wants - no needs - to find Hinata.

“Maybe I spelled his first name wrong,” Kageyama says again before retyping “Hinata Shoyo” in the search bar, omitting the “u’s” that usually denote the long pronunciation of the “o” sound in Japanese. He curses to himself when he can’t seem to remember the kanji that Hinata used in his first name which would most likely be a huge help. But he also can’t seem to remember if Hinata even knew them himself back then.

Once again, nothing shows up beside the same useless information as before. He even goes into the second page of search results which he knows in his mind would be a complete waste of time. He closes his laptop in frustration when he isn’t able to come up with anything about this boy who he spent the better half of a year with, even if it was twenty years ago. The length of time doesn’t matter, especially because of how Kageyama’s heart feels in his chest when he thinks back to Hinata and all the fun they had and the promises they made to each other.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Kageyama yells into the empty house. He grabs the half-eaten tangerine and takes an angry bite of it before lobbing it into the nearest trash can. “I can’t let it end here, I have to find-”

His phone rings loudly next to him. He looks down and sees that his mom is calling. He looks at his watch and notes that it’s four hours earlier than she had said she’d be done with work. 

“Hello, Mom?” He asks on his phone. “Is everything okay? Are you feeling okay?”

A part of him is really worried that something bad has happened to his mom. Even though he had only just found out about his mom’s current bout of Grave’s Disease, it still gnaws at his heart. After his parents split up, his mom had been everything to him and the thought of losing her now, when he is still in this devastating purgatory does nothing for his current fragile state. He has to focus on one life-changing revelation at a time and he really wants it to be about finding his best friend and not his mom heading to her deathbed.

“Is everything okay?” His mom mimics into the phone, most likely trying to decipher what Kageyama is going on about so early in their conversation. “Oh, honey, are you worried about me? That’s so sweet.”  
  


“Wait, you're not dying?” Kageyama breathes a huge sigh of relief.

“You know, Tobio, if you can’t look at me without thinking I’m going to fall over and die at any second, you’ve got another thing coming for you.” She laughs heartily through the phone that both calms and irritates Kageyama.

“Mom.”

“Tobio.”

“If you’re not dying, what’s up?”

“That’s a beautiful segue, honey. But anyway, I’m hungry.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“My lunch break is in fifteen minutes and I forgot my lunch in the refrigerator… could you swing by and bring it to me?”

“What about all the times you didn’t bring me my lunch when I forgot it when I was in school?” Kageyama asks back.

He is grinning thinking about this unprecedented leverage he now has over his mom. And the fact that she is, in fact, not dying right now which he takes as free rein to be coy with her.

“What about the nine excruciating months you spent in my womb? What about the whole year I couldn’t drink professionally prepared cocktails because I didn’t want you to come out all messed up? What about the fact that I can never taste bananas the same again since I was pregnant with you? What about-”

“Alright, I get it, Mom,” Kageyama rolls his eyes. “You know, you’re going to have to forgive me someday for apparently ruining your life when I was in your womb which, might I remind you, I had no control over!”

“If you bring me my lunch in… the next ten minutes, you’ll be forgiven,” his mom laughs before adding: “At least for the rest of the day.”

“That… sounds like an okay compromise.” Kageyama is about to say “bye” to his mom before opting to go with: “See you.” This is something he tells himself he is going to start saying, not just because he now remembers that Hinata used to say it all the time, but because it is just a much nicer way to say bye.

He goes to the fridge and immediately sees his mom’s pastel pink lunch bag that sits pristinely on the middle row. He almost peeks in it but decides against it because he actually doesn’t care all that much. As he grabs his mom’s keys from next to his laptop, he catches a glimpse of the house listing that he had thrown on the table. And he realizes that he can ask his mom about Hinata. Maybe she might have some kind of answer about what happened to him given that she had to have had contact with his mom for him to come around as often as he did.

His mom forgetting her lunch might have been just the thing he needed today.

“Thanks a bunch, honey,” his mom says after she gives Kageyama a quick peck on the cheek and grabs her lunch bag. 

They walk over to one of the tables outside the library so they can spend his mom’s lunch break together. 

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?” His mom asks before taking out her sandwich. Kageyama looks at it and realizes that it’s a turkey sandwich, just like the one she had made on their first day in that house. “I thought you would have brought something to eat so it wouldn’t be awkward, but whatever sizzles your bacon.”

“‘Sizzles my bacon?’”

“You know like ‘whatever floats your boat’ but instead it’s about bacon. The kids here love it when I say stuff like that.”

“I see…” Kageyama nods his head in slow understanding. 

His mom is a writer by trade after all, so she is always trying to find new and creative ways to add to her writing. Which also reminds him that he’s going to need to ask her how he can break into the writing and publishing world himself so he can try to keep up his end of that promise.

But first, Hinata.

“Anyway, you said you wanted to ask me about something?”

“Oh, yeah,” Kageyama says. When he actually goes to ask his mom, he can’t seem to find the right words. The words to convey all the emotions and memories he had unlocked in the past few hours that he had been so painfully unaware of for so long. How was he supposed to tell all of this to his mom who was just sitting there, munching on her sandwich? “It’s uh- It’s about-”

“About the house on Crow’s Nest Road?”

“How did you-”

“Tobio, I’m your mother. I just know things,” she says matter-of-factly. “Also you mentioned that you were going there this morning and I’ve been thinking a lot about that house today at work too.”

“That house, it really was something, wasn’t it?”

“It’s one of my biggest regrets in my life, letting that house go when your father and I split up. And you being caught in the middle of all of that,” she holds her hand across the table and Tobio holds on it for a second. 

“You know, the owners are selling it.”

“They are? I never thought they would. It always seemed like they were going to keep it in the family for as long as they could even if they don’t live in it.”

“Wait, you know who they are?”

“Yeah, of course, the Furudate’s. They live in Pittsburgh but come by every now and again. I’ve met up with them a few times since moving back here.”

“You never told me that!” Kageyama replies, his voice slightly elevated.

“I didn’t realize you would care but next time they’re in town, I’ll make sure to let you know.”

“Thanks.”

“Why do you care that much, anyway? The Furudate’s were just the ones who bought the house from your dad when he sold it not long after you and I left. Is everything okay?”

Kageyama remembers that drilling in this new information about the new owners isn’t actually what he wanted to ask his mom about. “Do you remember Hinata?”

“Hinata?”

“Yeah, Hinata Shouyou, my best friend when we lived here when I was seven?”

“Hmm,” his mom looked to her side for a moment. “I can’t say it rings any bells.”

“You know, umm,” Kageyama is floored.

How could his mom not remember the boy who came around almost every day that summer and his first three months of second grade?

“He had bright orange hair like,” he looks around and finds his mom’s unopened tangerine. “Like this tangerine. And we used to run around and scream like ferocious wild animals all the time. And you used to make us sweet tea and we would all read the Magic Treehousebook together. Does this not ring any bells at all?”

“Oh!” His mom shook her head in realization. “Of course, how could I forget Hinata? As far as imaginary friends go, he was pretty funny.”

Kageyama looks at his mom unsure of what she just said. That doesn’t make any sense to him. So he asks again: “No, not an imaginary friend. My actual real-life friend Hinata. You know, the friend you and Dad both met and had meals with multiple times?”

His mom looks at Kageyama, worry in her eyes. “Honey, Hinata was your _imaginary_ friend.” She says, again with more force. “Your dad and I used to argue about it a lot, actually. Whether or not you should have had an imaginary friend at that age.” She sighs wistfully before starting again. “On top of the other things we used to argue about of course. But why are you bringing him up now? I’m not going to say I wasn’t glad when you stopped needing to have an imaginary friend, but it’s a little strange, no?”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Kageyama says out loud. He looks at his hands to find something to focus on. Like his fingers would have all the answers or be able to make his mom stop kidding around like this.

“How could Hinata have been imaginary? We carved words under my desk together. He taught me how to make grass braids, the ones I- we used to give to you all the time. He helped push me on the swing! An imaginary friend couldn’t have done that!” His voice raises at the end, garnering concerned looks from some of the people around them. “Could it have?”

“Honey, you need to calm down, okay?” His mom says, putting her hands in front of her and gestures for him to bring it down a couple of levels. “I don’t know what to say about those memories you seem to have, but I can tell you, from an outside perspective, that Hinata wasn’t real in any tangible sense. He might have been very real to you, but no one could see him. We, being your father and me, thought that you made him up because of the stress of the move and leaving J-Town behind and when we did end up moving away, you said your goodbye to him. And that was that.”

“No, I can’t believe that,” Kageyama replies, trying to convince himself that what his mom is saying isn’t true. It just can’t be. “I can’t believe that the one person that I’ve been dreaming about for the past few months never existed. That just can’t be true!”

“Honey, I don’t know what you’re getting so worked about. But please, tell me. Let me help.”

“Mom, I-” Kageyama swallows back whatever was growing in his throat that desperately wanted out. “I don’t know what to do.”

“About what?” His mom gets up from her seat across from him and sits down next to him. She grabs his hand and looks into his eyes. “About what, honey?” She repeats.

“About my life. About my job. About everything. I thought by going back to the one place I remember being even the slightest bit happy in, I could get some answers.” He looks up to the sky and imagines flying up there like one of the crows this town is named after. Like what Hinata, who was most likely imaginary, always talked about doing. “And I thought I did, but now-” He gulps. “Now I have even more questions.”

“Like what, Tobio?”

“Like who am I? What do I want? I thought I had made a promise with my best friend, Hinata, and I was going to find him now and tell him sorry for not keeping it but that I was going to do better. But now, apparently, I made the promise with myself? With an orange-haired boy, I completely fabricated in my mind? That just doesn’t sound right! Am I crazy?”

“The mind works in mysterious ways,” his mother starts before wrapping her arms around Kageyama who has started to tear up. “No one really understands how it works. Especially not people like us who haven’t spent years studying the brain and emotions and all that. But what I can tell you, is you were a happy kid back then.” She pulls away and wipes away a tear from Kageyama’s eyes with her napkin. 

“I can so perfectly picture you in the weeds, screaming and hollering like a lion and beating your chest. And you on the swing in the trees over that creek and how scared I was whenever you went too high. And you laughing in your bedroom when you were playing pretend or running around like you had just captured Tinkerbell and were going to feed her to the sharks.” She chuckles behind her hand. “Which I always thought was a little weird given that Peter Pan and Tinkerbell were supposed to be the good guys but let you be when you said you didn’t like Peter because he didn’t want to grow up and you wanted to grow to be at least six feet tall, which,” she looks Kageyama up and down. “You did. And I remember you watching movies and TV, always making sure to explain it to Hinata, who I couldn’t see but apparently you could, and how glad you were to have a friend.”

“Mom, I- I-” Kageyama collapses again into his mom’s arms. “But if Hinata didn’t really exist, then was I really happy? Because if I did all those things and was happy like you say I was, wasn’t it because of this person I apparently made up in my head?”

“But that’s just it, honey. Imaginary or not, _you_ had those fun times. You were the one with the smile on your face all that time. So what, if Hinata was there to help you get that smile? Hinata may have been a part of your mind, but he was in _your_ mind.”

Kageyama sniffles and shudders as he sits up from his mom’s warm embrace. “I guess I see what you mean, Mom. But still, I just can’t believe I made Hinata Shouyou up that entire time.”

“Well, little kids do have very active imaginations. And I read somewhere that some kids make imaginary friends to help them through hard times.”

“Hard times?”

Kageyama thinks to himself about what would cause him to make up Hinata. Sure, he had already mentioned the sudden move across the country which was a huge change in his life. But that doesn’t seem like it would have been that big of a change to warrant creating a whole other person he was convinced existed.

“I-” His mom starts before stopping herself. “I think I might know why Hinata was so good for you back then, actually.”

Kageyama looks at his mom and watches as she places her hand on the side of her face. That’s when he instantly remembers what happened on the last day they lived in Crow’s Landing twenty years ago. Probably the one day that truly could cement what this imaginary Hinata’s purpose was in his life back then, even if he wanted to hope against hope and reason and logic that he was real. 

The day his life changed completely, even if he wanted so desperately to repress it. Until now.

It was a brisk December day and they were expecting snow anytime now. Apparently, the fact it hadn’t snowed already was a complete surprise in the small town of Crow’s Landing. A surprise that the locals who had lived there more than six months loved but to, Kageyama, was the worst ever. He had been excited to run around in the snow and make snowmen and women and snow angels and have snowball fights with his best friend in the world, Hinata. 

Ever since Kageyama had started school at the end of August that year, he was only able to see Hinata for a few hours after school when the sun was still up. That left them with a lot less time than they had had that summer to do their normal kid things. They were able to make the most of it, however, and spent every second the sun was in the sky doing its sunny duties to have as much fun as they could. He was able to convince his mom to let them have this time to play as long as he promised to do his homework after Hinata left for the day at around the same time as always. A promise he was very good at keeping.

The thought of not being able to hang out and play with Hinata was scarier than his homework for sure.

But on that December day, only a week before his birthday, the last thing Kageyama wanted was for Hinata to see him like this.

“Kageyama!” 

Kageyama sat on the swing, his back to Hinata who was calling his name from inside the tall grass. He didn’t want to turn around so Hinata wouldn’t be able to see the tears he was busy trying to sniffle in and wipe away with his sleeve.

“Kageyama!” Hinata called again before bursting out of the weeds. “There you are!”

“You found me,” Kageyama replied with no conviction in his voice.

“What’s wrong?” Hinata asked, walking around Kageyama to get a good look at his face. “Were you crying?” Hinata tilted his head to the side, trying to get a better look at Kageyama’s downtrodden face.

“No, I just got something in my eyes, that’s all.”

“Hey, best friends don’t lie to each other!” Hinata exclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, you have to tell me what’s wrong.”

“Fine,” Kageyama looked away from Hinata and back to the house where he could just make out his parents in the kitchen window. 

They were still in the middle of one of their biggest arguments yet. They were arguing about something that Kageyama was too young to understand. But what he could understand, was that they were getting angrier and angrier with each other every day and his dad was now sleeping in the downstairs guest bedroom that they had furnished in the hopes of having relatives over for Christmas in less than two weeks.

“My mom and dad are fighting again. I don’t know why but my dad always starts it and it sucks. I just want them to stop.”

“You know, I think your house might be haunted,” Hinata said matter-of-factly.

“What?” Kageyama turned back to Hinata who was nodding his head like he had just cracked the biggest case since one of Pikachu’s many kidnappings. “Like with ghosts?”

“Yeah! Your dad is always mad so I think your house is haunted! Ghosts like that sort of stuff so, yeah, your house is pretty haunted.”

“Hinata, you’re being weird.”

“I’m sorry, I just think your house isn’t very fun when your dad is all mad. It’s kinda scary.”

“I know. He didn’t use to be mad like this but something happened. I don’t know what though. My parents never tell me anything.”

“Why not?” Hinata sat down on his butt so he could look up at Kageyama who was still sitting on the swing, letting his feet dangle. “Is it because you’re a kid?”

“Yeah, something like that. But I don’t want to be a kid anymore. Because if I’m not a kid, then I’ll be a grown-up and a grown-up can make my mom and dad stop fighting all the time!”

“I don’t think being a grown-up is all that fun though,” Hinata said before standing up and dusting off his butt. “Because if you’re a grown-up, you can’t run around in the weeds anymore and scream at the top of your lungs because then people just think you’re weird.”

“But if you don’t grow up, you won’t get taller and you won’t be able to be a professional volleyball player or a writer,” Kageyama replied as he turned to watch Hinata walk towards the tall grass. “And we ‘crossed our hearts, hoped to fly’ that we would grow up and do those things.”

“It doesn’t mean I don’t want to grow up ever!” Hinata said as he grabbed Kageyama’s hands and pulled him off the swing so he wouldn’t be able to sulk anymore about his parents fighting. Because, as Kageyama implied without knowing, he was too young to do a thing about it. And he should instead focus on being a kid for as long as he could. Something that Hinata seemed to get a lot quicker than him. “It just means I want to be a kid for as long as possible. Because once we grow up, everything changes.”

“Okay, okay,” Kageyama replies, wiping his face with his sleeve.

“So, Wanna go find some treasure?”

“Only if you’re the captain this time.”

“Why me?” Hinata asked, dropping Kageyama’s hand. “You’re a better captain anyway.”

“Because I want to follow you this time!”

“Umm, okay but if we get lost and killed by Peter Pan, it’s going to be your fault.”

“Deal!” They shook on it, put on their pirate hats, and ran off into their forest-covered island of buried treasure, imaginative and real. That fairy boy was going down.

“Tobio! Come inside, it’s going to rain!” 

Kageyama and Hinata both poked their heads out from the tall grass, having to stand on their tippy-toes. They looked up at the sky and, sure enough, there were very ominous storm clouds rolling in. Kageyama stopped to wonder if these clouds were going to finally bring the snow that he had been waiting for since December started.

“Want to come in for some hot chocolate?” Kageyama asked Hinata who was looking at the clouds with a worried look on his face. 

His mom had stopped making her sweet tea when summer ended because that’s what her mom, Kageyama’s grandmother who he had only met once when he was really little and didn’t remember, had always done when she was growing up. Kageyama was excited that his grandma and grandpa on his mom’s side were going to come to visit because his mom told him that they liked to give their grandchildren money as presents which Kageyama loved.

“I should probably head-”

“No, you’re going to have hot chocolate with me because you have to help me fight off the ghosts.”

“So, you believe me that your house is haunted?”

“If I say yes, will you come?”

“Only if you have the big marshmallows because I don’t like how small the mini ones are.”

“We have those! I like the colorful ones more though.” Kageyama said before pulling Hinata with him as they ran towards the house. 

“Oh good, you’re back,” Kageyama’s mom said as Kageyama and Hinata walked through the kitchen door. 

The dishes weren’t done and the dining room table was a mess with seemingly random papers scattered everywhere. It didn’t look like anything Kageyama had seen before. His parents, and his dad especially, were very good at being organized. It looked like a mini-tornado had blown through and taken out the kitchen. And Kageyama knew something was wrong, really, really wrong.

“Mom, is everything-”

“Everything will be okay, honey,” his mom said rubbing his hair. “You look cold. Do you want some hot chocolate?”

“Yes!” Kageyama said, momentarily mesmerized by his mom pouring milk into the one clean saucepan available. “Hinata wants some too,” he said when Hinata pulled at his sweater.

“Oh, yeah?” His mom replied. “Does he want the big marshmallows like last time, too?”

“Yup!” Hinata and Kageyama said at the same time. 

“But I want-” Kageyama started to follow up.

“The colorful ones, got it, honey,” his mom said with a wink. She seemed much better than before already. Kageyama was glad to see his mom like this, despite anything that might have happened between her and his dad.

“I’m heading out!” Kageyama’s dad called from the front door.

“And where do you think you’re going?” His mom said, walking briskly after him. The kindness that she had in her eyes only moments before was gone almost instantly. “We are not done discussing this!”

“I think we are, and you don’t get to control when and where I go out.”

“Like hell, I don’t!” His mom yelled with her hands on her hips. 

Kageyama wasn't used to his mom saying words like that so he and Hinata followed behind her and hid behind the door frame. They peeked their heads just enough so they could see Kageyama’s parents in the living room, in something that could best be described as a Revolutionary War duel, both sides unwilling to back down until one of them was shot dead and the other left with their honor. But with no real winner, only two ravaged sides.

“I've had enough of this,” his dad said before opening the door. “I’ll be back when I’m back.”

“You’re not even going to say goodbye to your son?!” His mom yelled out the door.

“You’ve made it very clear that he is your son in all of this, so no!” His dad said before shutting his car door.

“Ahhhhh!” His mom screamed as she started to chase Kageyama’s dad down the driveway. He was driving so fast and recklessly, he almost sideswiped the sign at the front of the driveway that said: “Fly High.” The same one that Hinata always said was his favorite.

“You suck! You suck! You suck! You suck!!!” His mom yelled at Kageyama’s dad as he drove down the road towards the rest of the town.

“Mom? Are you and Dad going to get a divorce?” Kageyama asked when his mom came back inside, her hair all messed up and on the verge of tears. Hinata held his hand and squeezed it when Kageyama asked the question.

“Oh, Tobio,” his mom squatted down and opened her arms wide for a hug.

Kageyama ran to her, Hinata still holding his hand, and gave her a huge hug, wanting nothing more in the world than to make things better. Hinata let go of Kageyama’s hand and hugged his mom, silent tears growing in his eyes too.

“You’re still too young to understand but-”

“No!” Kageyama stepped back from his mom, hurt. “I might only be seven right now, but I’m going to be eight next week and I can understand! I’m growing up. I-” He looked to Hinata whose hair was beginning to droop a little. “I think you and Dad should get a divorce because you always fight and it makes me sad.”

“Oh, Tobio,” his mom gasped before putting her hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to see us like this.” She sat down on the couch and dropped her head. “You’re right. You are growing up, and soon you won’t be a little boy anymore. But until then, I want you to be. So,” she sat up and looked Kageyama right in the eye. “I want you to march up those stairs and play. And I’ll bring you your hot chocolate and everything will be alright tonight.”

“But Mom,” Kageyama said softly, walking slowly towards his mom. “I want to be here with you. Hinata and I can keep you company.”

She placed her hand on Kageyama’s cheek and smiled weakly. “I’ll be alright, Tobio. What will make your mom really happy is if you go upstairs and play and have so much fun because then I’ll feel all the fun you’re having and be happy too.”

“What if you come to play with us?” Kageyama offered, turning back towards Hinata. “You could be the princess that us pirates are trying to save from the Kraken and Peter Pan! Right, Hinata?”

“Right!” Hinata echoed, nodding his head up and down enthusiastically.

“Oh, honey, that sounds like a lot of fun, but,” his mom sighed as she looked towards the unkempt kitchen. “I have so much I need to get done in the kitchen. So run along and I’ll bring your hot chocolate, okay?”

“Okay, Mom,” Kageyama said, dejected. 

His mom stood up, ruffling Kageyama’s hair, and walked towards the kitchen. “And Tobio, I love you. And your father loves you too. He just… has a hard time showing it sometimes.”

“I love you too, Mommy,” Kageyama replied, willing himself to be strong. He then grabbed Hinata’s hand, glad to have his best friend at his side, and ran upstairs.

“It’s raining really hard,” Kageyama said as he pulled the blinds on his window open. “Come look,” He signaled for Hinata to come up on the bed to watch the rain hit his window.

After his mom had sent Kageyama to his room, Kageyama and Hinata had decided to play with his Pokemon cards to get his mind off of everything that happened between his parents. However, because neither of them actually knew any of the rules they basically just flipped their cards from Kageyama’s collection and acted out what the battles might have been like on the TV show. And somehow, Kageyama always won even if his Pokemon totally would have lost. And he laughed every time Hinata tried to convince him that he wasn’t just letting him win because of how earnest and sincere he was about it.

They held their warm cups of hot chocolate that Kageyama’s mom had just brought to them. Kageyama’s colorful marshmallows were already starting to melt into their weird brown-colored goo which he thought was the coolest thing. And Hinata was entranced by how big his singular marshmallow was and kept trying to break it with his spoon, although when he actually did, he whimpered like a lost puppy. Even his hair drooped down a little, which made Kageyama laugh so hard he almost spilled his entire cup on the windowsill. 

That would not have been good.

“I don’t like the rain,” Hinata said as he pouted at the window. Kageyama wasn’t sure if he was pouting more at the rain hitting the window or the fact that he killed his favorite marshmallow so quickly. “It makes my hair all droopy,” Hinata said before grabbing one of his larger strands of orange hair and pulling it down to his face.

“Is that it?” Kageyama asked, turning towards Hinata. “If you’re scared about your hair, you can always wear a rain hat! I have one, lemme find it.”

He hopped off the bed, being sure not to disturb it too much so Hinata wouldn’t be shocked and drop his hot chocolate. He opened his closet and looked up towards one of the top racks. He reached up on his tippy toes until he finally grabbed a hold of the green rain cap that his parents had bought him when summer had ended.

“See?” Kageyama walked over to Hinata and put the cap on Hinata’s head. It took a little maneuvering to get all of Hinata’s larger wavy spikes into the cap, but once they were in it, they looked like they would be completely protected from any onslaught of sky water. “Now your hair will be okay in the rain!”

“Thanks, Kageyama,” Hinata said, readjusting the cap on his head to fit a little better. “But when it rains, it means we can’t play outside or play on the swing.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But we can drink all the hot chocolate we want and watch TV and play cards!”

“I’d still rather play outside though,” Hinata said sadly, looking in the direction of the swing. “It’s darker now that it’s raining.” He hopped off the bed and placed his mug of unfinished hot chocolate on the desk and started heading to the door. “My mom will want me home before it gets too dark.”

“Can’t you stay the night just once?” Kageyama pleaded. “It’s raining too hard anyway and you might get lost. I’m sure your mom won’t mind if you stay just this once! We can make a pillow fort and read scary stories and maybe even see a ghost! A friendly one though, you know like Casper!”

“I don’t know,” Hinata rubbed his arm and looked down at his shoes.

“I’ll have my mom call your mom, wait here,” Kageyama said before rushing down the stairs, leaving the somewhat downtrodden Hinata in his room. Before he got down to the first step, he realized his mom might be busy in the kitchen. So instead of walking in on her cleaning routine, he decided to just yell his request. “Hey, Mom! Can you call Hinata’s mom and ask her if he can spend the night because it’s raining too hard?”

His mom replied almost immediately from the kitchen. “I already called her, honey, and she said it was okay!”

“Thanks, Mom!” Kageyama smiled as he ran up the creaky stairs. When he went into his room, Hinata was busy picking up a huge pile of clothes from the floor. “My mom said your mom said it’s okay that you stay over! Wait, what are you doing?”

“Huh?” Hinata turned to look at Kageyama. “Oh, when you got the rain cap, you dropped all these sweaters on the floor, so I’m going to put them away for you.”

“Oh, I didn’t know I did that!” Kageyama said before grabbing some of the sweaters from Hinata’s hands. “Sorry, Hinata. But isn’t this exciting?”

“Isn’t what exciting?” 

“You get to spend the night! Now we can hang out all night and if there are any ghosts, we can make them our friends too! And maybe we can ask them to make my dad nicer so he won’t yell all the time.”

“Oh, really?” Hinata replied, not looking as excited as Kageyama hoped he would be. “My mom really said it was okay?”

“Yeah! And the best part is, we can make a pillow fort!”

“That sounds fun! How do we do it?” Hinata asked as he put the last of Kageyama’s sweaters on the floor of his closet as Kageyama had done. He would deal with it later, apparently.

“Well, all we have to do is-”

A loud noise came from downstairs like a huge bang. Kageyama and Hinata both shot their heads up, more scared than shocked at this noise. It was too close to be lightning, so it had to have been the front door slamming.

“You’re drunk, Haruichi,” they could hear Kageyama’s mom say to his dad.

“Yeah, and you’re a bi-”

“Don’t you dare use that language with Tobio in the house,” his mom quickly interrupted him.

Kageyama crept out of his bedroom with Hinata hot on his tail to get a better look at what was going on. He and Hinata, like before in the kitchen, poked their heads out from around the corner over the stairs to get a glance at what was happening below. They could only clearly see Kageyama’s parent’s lower bodies until the ceiling over the stairs cut them off. But from the looks of it, Kageyama’s dad was swaying ever so noticeably on his feet.

“Did you drink and drive?” His mom asked his dad coldly.

“‘Did I drink and drive?’” His dad asked back, mockingly. “Of course not, I’m not an idiot. Unlike you.”

“I don’t need to hear this,” his mom turned away from his dad. “Go to bed and- ow!”

Kageyama’s head jolted forwards when he heard his mom yell in pain. It looked like his dad had grabbed his mom’s wrist to stop her from walking away. Kageyama wanted to jump down there and make his dad stop but he remembered he was only seven-years-old and couldn’t do a thing when it came to grown-up stuff. And he was scared himself.

“I’m not done talking with you.”

“You know I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. Like I’d want to talk to you at all. What would your son think if he saw you like this?”

“You mean the son you’re so quick to throw in my face when you talk about leaving?”

Kageyama knew they were talking about him and he didn’t want anything to do with this. Even at age seven, he knew that this was too much for him and if he had to choose, he would one hundred percent choose his mom. But his dad was being really scary right now, so he wouldn’t speak up or do anything that would make him angrier than he was. He turned back to look at Hinata whose eyes were locked onto the back of Kageyama’s head.

“I told you, haunted,” Hinata said, before looking around like there were ghosts all around them.

“Mmmm,” Kageyama groaned. 

If this place really was haunted, he wanted those ghosts to make his dad stop being so mean and make him be like the person he was back in J-Town. The one who used to read him stories in Japanese about tanukis and kitsunes that would cause mischief but the fun kind. The dad who taught him how to write his full name in kanji and what it meant. The dad he always wanted.

“You need to go to bed and sleep this off. And we can discuss what to do about all of _this_ tomorrow,” Kageyama’s mom said firmly to his dad.

“How about we discuss this?!”

“Ahh!” His mom screamed.

Kageyama’s eyes grew ten times larger when he saw the shadow of his dad slap his mom across the face. His hands began to shake when he heard the sound of his palm hit right across her cheek. His legs began to tremble when he saw his mom’s silhouette and her body drop to the floor. He wanted to scream. To run down there and slap his dad right back. But nothing came out when he opened his mouth. His legs wouldn’t respond to his mind. He was frozen.

“Elizabeth, I-” His dad said, seeming to sober up a little.

“Kageyama, let’s go to your room,” Hinata said, seeming to try his hardest to stay calm when he saw how visibly devastated Kageyama was. 

It was as if Kageyama was possessed himself, by a ghost that refused to let him act as he wanted. To be the flying hero that would save his mom. He let himself be taken by Hinata into his room. He let him close the door and pull him into his closet and close it just enough to where they would be hidden, but light could still get through.

“Hina- He- Why-” Kageyama stammered before throwing his head into Hinata’s chest. “Why did he- Why did he- Why did he hit my mom?!” 

He threw his firsts half-hearted into Hinata’s sides, letting bursts of tears fly in all directions. Out of all the fights his parents had had, he had never once seen either of them hit the other. And it terrified him to his bones. He wasn’t able to protect his mom. He wasn’t able to stop his dad. He wasn’t able to do anything!

“Kageyama,” Hinata said as he pet his hair and took all of Kageyama’s light punches. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“I- I- want to run away,” Kageyama said as he stayed there in his best friend’s arms. “Will you run away with me?”

“Where would we go?”

“Anywhere, as long as it’s far from here. But you have to promise to come with me.”

“How about we move to India forever?” Hinata offered. 

“Why India?” Kageyama asked in between wiping away some of his tears. 

Every time he tried to wipe some away, more came. He couldn’t stop thinking about the way his mom screamed and the way the sound of dad’s palm on her face sounded. He wanted to forget about it right then but knew he wouldn’t be able to.

“I saw it in an atlas once, and my mom says they have elephants and the Taj Mahal and monkeys there,” Hinata listed off. “And you haven’t been there. I know because you don’t have a flag on your globe.”

“Isn’t it far?”

“Yeah, but we can do it. All you need to do is pack your dolls and a sweater and we can just go.”

“What?” Kageyama chuckled as he wiped away some of his tears. “I don’t have dolls.”

“Like your Doraemon doll…” Hinata said softly.

“He’s an action figure!” Kageyama corrected him, making them both laugh momentarily. Until what was most likely still happening downstairs came rushing back into Kageyama’s memory. “I don’t think we can do that, though.”

“I know,” Hinata replied sadly. “What can we do?”

“Nothing,” Kageyama said, crossing his arms across his chest and sniffling again. “We can’t do anything because we’re not grown up yet. If I was a grown-up, I would have hit my dad back and me, you and my mom would have run away.”

“But, if you were a grown-up, you wouldn’t be able to play.”

“I don’t want to play anymore!” Kageyama exclaimed. “I want to be able to help my mom and protect her like she’s always protected me. I want to be able to do things that kids can’t do, like stop their dad’s from hitting their moms.”

“Being a grown-up,” Hinata started before looking through, not at, Kageyama. “It sounds scary.”

“Not as scary as not being able to do anything, though,” Kageyama replied forcefully. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

“You’re right. But I think we should stay kids just a little bit longer, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t want to. My mom needs me now!” Kageyama stood up, almost hitting himself on the rack of sweaters above him. “I have to go save-”

“No, you can’t do anything because you’re a kid, like you said,” Hinata replied, pulling Kageyama back down. “And that’s okay. We’re not supposed to be able to save our moms or our dads. That’s their job.”

“But what if they can’t do it?” Kageyama asked, his nose sniffling again. He could feel more tears start to form behind his eyes.

“Then we have to wait for them, okay?” Hinata tilted his head again, letting his spikes tilt with him. “Can you promise me something, Kageyama?”

“What?” Kageyama asked before wiping his eyes with his sleeve again.

“Promise me that no matter what, you’ll eventually grow up and be strong enough to protect your mom. But, until then, you’ll just be a kid like me?”

“I guess, but if I could be a grown-up right now, I would.”

“No, promise me you won’t do that. Even if I’m not around. Even if we don’t see each other every day, you have to promise me that you’ll stay a kid as long as you can.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Well, when you promise me, you have to want to,” Hinata said, nodding his head as if Kageyama had already agreed to it.

The idea did sound appealing. Being a kid for as long as he could, not having a care in the world, and just running around in the trees, in the weeds. But he knew that the world wasn’t always going to be like that when there were dads who hit their moms, moms who cried when they thought nobody was around to listen, and kids who heard and saw all of it. But the way Hinata looked so earnest and open in the closet door light made him want to believe in that. At least right now.

“And promise me that you’ll tell no other.”

“What?”

“Promise me that this promise will be our secret,” Hinata held out his index finger and put it to his heart. “Cross my heart.”

“And hope to fly,” Kageyama finished as he crossed his heart at the same time. 

He didn’t know why, but this simple gesture made him feel a thousand times better. He was glad that he was able to hide in this closet when he needed it the most with his best friend. He was glad that even though everything that he thought was okay was actually not okay, he still had Hinata to be there with him. 

“You’re my best friend in the whole world,” Kageyama said as he laid his head down on Hinata’s crossed lap and cried a single tear. 

He closed his eyes, letting the sound of the rain on his window, the rhythm of Hinata’s breathing, and the silence from downstairs where his mom and dad had just been fighting lull him to sleep. He didn’t think he would be able to sleep after what he had seen, but maybe it was because Hinata was there to be his protector, his first mate on the high seas, his best friend, that he was able to finally slip into that world of dreams where everything would be okay. If only for a night.

“I love you.” 

Kageyama looks up at his mom, tears in his eyes. “Hinata was there for me that night. When Dad-”

“Yes, when your dad hit me,” his mother finishes for him before shivering. “That was probably the worst day of my entire life.”

“Because the man you married turned out to be a monster?”

“No,” she says, taking Kageyama’s hand. “Because that’s when I realized I- we had failed you as parents.”

“But, you didn’t fail-”

His mom shook her head to interrupt him. “You were so little and you shouldn’t have had to witness all of that. Your father and I-” She takes a breath before continuing. “We loved each other, there’s no doubt about that, but sometimes, that’s not enough. And that same love can turn into something else, and in the end, we were too different.”

“How can you still love someone like that?” Kageyama says, throwing his fist at the table. He rubs it in slight pain.

“I’ll always love the man he was before he started drinking. But, I loved you and me too much to let him continue that. I made sure to get us out of that house before he, God forbid, hit you.”

“But why did _we_ have to leave? If he was the one who hit you? I loved that house. Didn’t you?”

His mom places her hand on his cheek and gives him a pitying smile. “I know you did. I did too. But your father’s job was here and the house was in his name. And I could write from anywhere.”

“I guess that makes sense, Mom,” Kageyama replies. 

He tries to understand it and he does to a certain extent. But he can’t bring himself to like any of it. He still can’t get over the fact that this man who he once looked up to like Amaterasu herself, one the greatest deities in the Shinto religion, turned out to be a monster.

“And, I don’t know how much contact you’ve had with your father, but it wouldn’t be the worst if you reached out to him once in a while.”

“Why would I do that? He hit you!” Kageyama raises his voice again, balling his hands into fists.

“I know, honey. But he did- he does, love you, I know it. He was always very good at keeping his distance after we left and always made sure to send money for you and me every month. Who do you think paid for half of all your college?”

Kageyama tries to remember back to those days when money seemed to be so tight in their household. His mom was in between novels but she always made sure that Kageyama was well taken care of. No wonder she was always able to buy him new clothes each school year and when college applications came around, she always told him to go with what his heart wanted. Regardless of the price. If Kageyama would have known that his father, who slapped his mom so hard that rainy night, had been quietly funding his whole life, he doesn’t know what he would have done. Maybe it was a good thing his parents kept this part of his life a secret from him.

“If I would have known _he_ was paying for all those things, I don’t know if I would have accepted them.”

“We both, your father and I, knew that. So, that’s why we kept it from you for so long. I know he feels terrible about what happened, even to this day.”

“Do you still talk to him?” Kageyama doesn’t know if he wants to hear the answer but he already put the question out there.

“Not so much. I did tell him that I moved back here, though. If I remember correctly, he’s back in Japan.”

“Good, I don’t like you talking to him,” Kageyama says coldly. “And that’s good he’s so far away. If I see him again, I might hit him.”

“You’ve always wanted to protect me, haven’t you?”

“Yes. But Hinata, who I guess was always in my head, told me it was your job to protect me.”

“Well then, Hinata was a very smart boy.” She places a kiss on his forehead. “And if Hinata Shouyou only existed in your head to protect you and keep you a little kid for as long as he could, then I’m glad he was your friend.”

“Me too, Mom. Me too.”

His mom tilts her head as she looks at Kageyama and smiles. “You’ve really grown into a wonderful man, Tobio. And I’m sure if Hinata Shouyou could see you now, he would be really happy too.” 

Kageyama isn’t too sure of that himself, but he doesn’t want to dig up that whole can of worms just then.

His mom pets the top of Kageyama’s head and looks at her watch. “Oh my goodness, my lunch is almost over. I should head back.”

“Okay, Mom. Thanks for talking with me about all of this,” Kageyama tells his mom as she packs up her lunch bag. “It really helped.”

“I’m glad, honey. Do you know what you’re going to do for the rest of the day?”

“Not sure yet. Maybe I’ll just enjoy what this town has to offer. Maybe I’ll go try to see if I can’t tell Hinata thanks for everything.”

“That sounds like a wonderful and somewhat cliché idea,” she gets up from the table and wipes down the bottom of her librarian-chic dress. “Just make sure to pick me up at five, okay?”

“Will do, Mom.”

“And if you do see Hinata Shouyou, tell him I say hi and I can make some of that sweet tea that he liked so much,” she winks before walking towards the library.

“I’ll make sure to tell him that!” Kageyama calls to his mom who gives him a kind-hearted wave before entering the library.

“See you later.” He says to his mom and, really, himself.

Kageyama looks up to the sky and tries his best to manifest Hinata to be there with him. Even if he was imaginary, even if he was all made up, he still wants to be able to talk to him. Just for a moment to apologize for not being able to keep up his end of their, his, promises. To tell him that he would do better and be better. For both of their sakes.

He’s about to get up from the table when he hears someone approach him from behind.

“Excuse me, young man?”

Kageyama turns to see an elderly woman walk up to him. He realizes immediately that it’s the same woman he helped off the bus the day before. 

“Oh, is there something wrong?” Kageyama asks, ready to give up his seat for this woman who looks like she should be in a nursing home or something. Or maybe he’s just a bit ageist, a nasty habit that probably carried over from his excruciating five years in the city.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but did I hear you and the lovely librarian talking about Hinata Shouyou?”

Kageyama is taken aback by this question. 

First off, had this woman been listening in to his and his mom’s very deep and heartfelt conversation about how his dad hit her and destroyed their family? Because that’s just really weird and insensitive. Although on second thought, maybe the two of them shouldn’t have been talking about something that sensitive and personal in a public park where there were a bunch of kids running around. So that’s on them.

Second off, how did this woman pick up on Hinata’s name and want to ask him about him? He had just been informed that Hinata was, in fact, his imaginary friend and not an actual breathing human kid that he spent some of the happiest six months of his childhood with. What was this woman’s aim? Kageyama determines that he isn’t above one-two punching an old woman if she decides she wants to mess with his head. Tanaka, wherever that crazy kid ended up, would be proud.

“How- how do you know Hinata Shouyou?” Kageyama is able to ask. 

“I remember that sweet little boy like it was yesterday,” the woman says before sitting down next to Kageyama. “What a shame what happened to him. We were all so devastated.”

“I’m sorry, what are you talking about?” Kageyama asks. 

Was there another Hinata Shouyou that lived around here? It would be a crazy coincidence if his imaginary friend shared the same name with someone who used to live in this town. Maybe Kageyama had come up with the name back then because he heard someone mentioning it off-handedly in his subconscious. 

“You know, Hinata Shouyou. The boy who used to live on Crow’s Nest Drive back in the seventies. I’ll never forget how bright orange his hair was and how much he loved that swing of his.”

Kageyama’s jaw drops a little at this last description. There had to be another explanation for how his imaginary friend had the same orange hair and same fascination with that swing like this Hinata Shouyou did. 

“I remember that day so vividly, when they found his body in the-” She sniffles and puts her finger to her eye.

“His- his body?”

“In the creek behind their house. Oh, the town was so devastated after that. I had just moved here, and that boy always used to come up to me and ask me why my belly was so big.” She rubs her stomach and smiles. “And when I told him I was going to be having a child and she was growing in my belly, he first asked why I ate her.” She laughs and continues. “And, after I explained, that I was going to be giving birth to her said that he wanted to be best friends with her and show her his swing. He was such a happy kid.”

Kageyama gulps.

This sounds like something his Hinata would say. He was always so friendly and happy and carefree, which seeped into Kageyama’s personality back then. But this has to be some kind of twisted coincidence or joke. When he looked up Hinata Shouyou on Google earlier that day, he hadn’t seen any mention of an orange-haired kid dying or an obituary. There has to be some other explanation. Anything, anything at all.

Maybe this lady is just crazy and really needs to be in a nursing home.

“I don’t remember seeing any obituary for him online though…” He says to her.

He isn’t sure if this is the right thing to say but it’s all he can come up with all these possibilities in his head taking up precious space.

“If I recall correctly, which I might not be given how long it’s been, his parents didn’t write an obituary for him because of how horrible it all was. But he is buried in the cemetery on Summit View Road. I’ve visited a couple of times to see him.”

“Mmmm,” Kageyama sounds out, unsure what to make of all of this. “This just doesn’t make any sense.”

“A child’s death never does,” she says solemnly. “It just feels so unnatural when a child dies before their parents.” The woman sighs. “But how do you know about Hinata? You couldn’t have been alive in the seventies.”

“I- I don’t know,” Kageyama replies, dumbstruck. “I need to go to that cemetery I think.”

“Well, if you do go, please tell him Ms. Yachi and Hitoka say hi,” The woman smiles at Kageyama before walking away. And disappearing as quickly as she appeared.

Kageyama honestly has no idea what to make of any of this whatsoever. This is all just too crazy and sudden to make any sense. But what he does know for sure, is that to close this chapter of his life he needs to go to that cemetery. Even if the boy that this strange woman is talking about has nothing to do with his Hinata and he is about to go on a wild goose chase, it would be a fitting way to finally say goodbye to this part of himself. To say goodbye to the boy who helped him see what his life was like and what it can be, now that he has a promise to keep.

As he drives towards the cemetery, he tries to think back to that morning. The morning he and his mom left Crow’s Landing. The morning after that horrific scene in the living room. The morning he said goodbye to his best friend.

Kageyama was rustled awake by a gentle shaking on his bed and his mom calling his name, ever so softly. Like she was trying to only wake him up and no one and nothing else.

“Tobio, wake up, honey,” his mom cooed into his ear.

Kageyama couldn’t seem to remember how he got into his bed from the night before. All he could remember was what he saw his dad do downstairs and him crying into Hinata’s chest. His eyes opened in shock and he looked around frantically.

“Where’s Hinata?” Kageyama asked when he didn’t see him anywhere. 

Like he hadn’t even been there last night, although he knew he was. Their conversation was still so fresh in his mind. Hinata’s suggestion that they move to India and especially the promise that he made with him, although he couldn’t tell no other. He wasn’t even really sure what it meant, now that the sun was streaming in through his window, the rain clouds gone. A new day had opened but all he could think about was where Hinata was.

“He went home earlier,” his mom calmly replied while playing with Kageyama’s bangs. “But I need you to be a big boy right now, okay?”

“What’s going on?” Kageyama asked, putting his hands over his eyes to block out the sun that was streaming in.

“You and I are going to be leaving today. Your aunt and grandparents are coming to pick us up in a little bit.”

“Where are we going?” 

“We’re going to be going away for a little while, okay? Just you and me.”

“No Dad?” Kageyama asked. In this morning light and his mom’s angelic figure above him, he briefly forgot how dark it was not twelve hours before. But then it came back in, and his face dropped and went into that scowl that he would become known for in a few years. “Good.”

“Oh honey,” His mom said before sitting up from his bed. “You need to pack up your things, like your sheets and clothes and toys okay? Our family will be here soon.”

“How long are we going to be gone?” Kageyama asked, not completely grasping the levity of what this trip would be. How could seven-year-old Kageyama, who had only just seen his dad hit his mom, have known that this would probably be the last time he stepped foot in this house for what would end up being twenty years?

“For a while,” his mom said, keeping her answer deliberately vague. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to worry Kageyama with how permanent this change would be or maybe it was because she didn’t know herself. “So, make sure to pack everything you’ll want to keep, okay?”

“Okay, Mommy,” Kageyama said before sitting up in his bed. 

He stretched his arms into the air and decided to get to work. If he was a good kid and did everything his mom wanted him to do, then he would definitely be getting an awesome birthday present next week. And he didn’t want to make his mom sad. He went around his room and started packing everything that he wanted to keep, which to his seven-year-old brain, was basically everything. Luckily, when they had gone back-to-school shopping four months previously, his parents had bought him another backpack so he was able to pack almost everything he wanted. By the time he was finished, which took a little less than an hour, he had two completely stuffed backpacks, a Doraemon suitcase that was basically bursting at the seams, and a plastic bag full of sweaters he was too lazy to fold.

He looked at the globe that was sitting on his desk and knew he needed to bring it too but didn’t have any room for it in his bags. He grabbed all of his bags and was somehow able to maneuver the globe as well and brought them downstairs to where his mom was. 

“You can’t just take him!”

“You know very well that I can. Or is _this_ not enough evidence of that?”

Kageyama walked into the living room to see his mom and dad standing opposite each other, his mom’s suitcases and bags piled up near the front door. She was pointing to a large mark on the side of her face, the same place Kageyama instantly realized was where his father hit her the night before. 

His parents both turned to look at Kageyama, his bags, and the globe in hand. He stood there, like a deer in the headlights, like he had just walked in on the same duel. And this time, he knew he was in the middle of it. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know if there was anything he could do except stand there, and wait for the grown-ups to say or do something. Anything. 

He had to keep his promise to Hinata.

“Now, Tobio, tell your mother that she’s being ridiculous. You all can’t leave right now,” his dad said in his most patronizing voice. He bent down to be more at Kageyama’s level, something he never did before. It felt weird.

“Tobio, don’t listen to your father,” his mom said coolly. “Go ahead and put your bags next to mine. Your grandparents will be here soon.”

“Not them,” his dad rolled his eyes. “Why do you have to make this all so damn complicated?”

“Because you make it complicated!” His mom responded back, angrily. “You can’t stop us from leaving.”

“Like hell, I can’t!” His dad said before grabbing Kageyama’s wrist forcefully. “I’m not drunk today and you can’t just take my son away from me!”

“Ouch, Dad, you’re hurting me!” Kageyama cried out, reaching for his dad’s wrist.

“Let go of my son!” His mom screamed before slapping away his dad’s hand from Kageyama’s wrist. 

“Oh God,” his dad said before falling down onto the floor. “Who am I? What have I become?” He began to cry into his hands. 

Kageyama had never seen his dad cry before and he didn’t like it one bit. Without a second glance, he dropped his bags and the globe on the floor and ran out of the kitchen door. He knew he didn’t want to be in that room any longer. He wanted one thing, and that was to go on that swing and fly. Fly so high, that his dad would never be able to hurt him or his mom ever again. Fly so high, that he could be like a crow and touch the sky.

“Hinata?” Kageyama asked when he got to the swing and saw his friend there, sitting on it. He looked just like he did on the first day that summer. His orange hair shining in the morning sun.

“Were you crying again?” Hinata asked, tilting his head just like he always did.

“I-” Kageyama touched his face, and sure enough, some tears had escaped.

He never wanted to cry ever again. He had cried too much in the past twenty-four hours and he didn’t want to be weak.

“Not anymore. I’m not going to be a little kid anymore.”

“You know, crying doesn’t make you a little kid,” Hinata said calmly, his feet dangling from the swing. “When you cry, you’re letting your feelings out. And when you do that, you feel better!” Hinata flashed him a huge grin. “I think my mom calls it cat-heart-is?”

“I don’t know,” Kageyama said, wiping his eyes to make sure no more runaway tears would show up. He didn’t want his last day to see Hinata to be marred with these tears, especially because he wasn’t sure when he would be back. “My mom and I are leaving today.”

“Oh? Where are you going?”

“We’re going with my grandpa and grandma somewhere. But I don’t when I’ll be back.”

“Oh…” Hinata looked down at his feet. “Then who will be here to play on the swing with me?”

“Well, you can still come here and play all the time!” Kageyama said, determined to make Hinata happy. If only one of them had to smile, he wanted it to be Hinata. He wanted to see Hinata’s hair perk up and show the world it’s orange brilliance at least one more time.

“It won’t be the same without you,” Hinata said before looking out over the creek.

“I’ll make sure to write you letters all the time and I’ll call and you can come to visit me and my mom sometimes too!” Kageyama exclaimed. 

He had made a whole plan in those last thirty seconds. Wherever he and his mom ended up, be it back in New Hampshire where his mom was from or all the way in India where the elephants were, he would send Hinata all the letters he could. He would call all the time just so they could play pirate again or talk about the Magic Treehouse books. And, eventually, he would convince his mom to come let Hinata visit them. He would even pay for Hinata’s flight with his allowance. This was going to work. Just because he and his mom had to leave, it didn’t mean he had to leave Hinata behind. If anything, it would keep their adventures going, just in more places on the globe.

“Okay, Kageyama, that sounds like a good idea!” Hinata smiled. “But before you go, can you push me on the swing one last time?”

“Yeah!” Kageyama went behind Hinata and pushed.

“I want to fly high,” Hinata said as Kageyama’s pushes became more forceful. “I want it so all of Pennsylvania is under me!”

“You got it, Hinata!” Kageyama said before putting a huge push on the swing. 

Hinata laughed as his hair blew in the wind, more than seven feet above it all. Kageyama smiled as Hinata flew on that swing, the one he was so glad he was able to play on those past six months. He vowed never to forget this.

“Hey, Kageyama!” Hinata said as the swing started to slow down. “Have you ever wanted to jump into the creek from the swing?”

“All the time!” Kageyama replied. “But I was always too scared to. My mom would be really mad if I got hurt or something. I’m not scared anymore though.”

“Yeah, mine too,” Hinata said when the swing came to a stop. “I’m glad you didn’t though.”

“Why?”

“Because even if you’re not scared, it doesn’t mean you should do it. I think just swinging is the best.”

“But wouldn’t it be cool to actually fly?”

“Yeah,” Hinata consented. “But I think swinging like this is just as cool as flying.”

Kageyama had never thought of it that way before. He knew that swing was awesome and special, but it never felt like actually flying. There was always that rope and that wooden plank that would be there to catch him and be his foundation. If he could actually fly, like if he jumped into the creek, maybe he could actually be a crow.

“But aren’t you the one who wants to fly high?” Kageyama asked.

Hinata laughed, letting his hair bounce around. “Yeah, you’re right. But I want to fly high on the volleyball court now.” He jumped off the swing and pretended to do a huge spike. He put his hands in the air like he was reacting to his cheering fans. “I’m glad you never jumped in.”

“Why?”

“Because we were able to have so much fun without it!” Hinata jumped up and down, getting Kageyama to do the same. Kageyama couldn’t help but notice the slight somber expression that flashed across Hinata’s face though for just a second.

“I’m going to miss you, Hinata,” Kageyama said when they got worn out from jumping around like maniacs. Like feral children.

“You don’t need to,” Hinata said back. “I’m going to be right here.” He placed his hand on Kageyama’s heart. “All the time.”

Kageyama wrapped Hinata in a huge hug and whimpered just a little. “I want to stay here with you forever. Then we can play together all the time and scream and just run around. And we can stay kids forever.”

“But you promised me that you’ll grow up when you have to and you can’t break a promise. Not when you crossed your heart, hoped to fly.”

“But- but-”

“You promised.”

“Tobio!! It’s time to go, honey!” His mom called from the porch.

Kageyama turned around and he saw a strange car in their driveway with all of their things stacked up against it. His grandparents were there and it was now for sure time for him to leave. To say goodbye to this house, that swing, those weeds, and Hinata Shouyou, his best friend in the entire world.

“Hinata,” Kageyama said, still hugging his best friend.

“You have to go, Kageyama,” Hinata replied. He let go first. 

Kageyama didn’t want to leave Hinata there all alone but he knew he had to go. He was just a little kid after all. And his mom needed him. And he needed her.

“I promise I’ll write! And call!” Kageyama said as he ran towards the house from the swing for the last time. “See you later!”

“Goodbye, Kageyama!” Hinata called from the tree, cupping his hands around this mouth so his words would reach him.

As Kageyama, his mom, and his grandparents drove away in their packed car, Kageyama put his face to the car window. In the house, he could see his dad open a bottle of what looked like some sort of alcohol and stare at them driving away. He didn’t know when he would next see his dad, but he knew he didn’t want it to be anytime soon. If at all. 

He looked back as they began to turn out of the driveway and he smiled as he saw Hinata running up to the “Fly High” signpost. He was still waving at Kageyama, his smile and orange hair bright as ever in the sun. Kageyama waved back, tears starting to form in his eyes. Happy tears, as he promised himself that he would talk to him and see him again really soon.

Kageyama threw one last look at the house as they drove away. They had only spent about six months in that big farmhouse, but he wouldn’t have traded those months for anything in the world. He met his best friend there and played in the trees and the weeds. He had laughed more than he had ever done before. And he knew he would be back there sometime in the future when he was finally grown up.

And Hinata would be right there with him.

  
“So, you really were real after all,” Kageyama says as he kneels down on the cemetery grass.

It took him a while to find the cemetery after his phone started to wig out on the way. But after some not-so-fortunate turns, he eventually made it. But getting to the cemetery and actually finding the plot he wanted, were two different things. But after wandering around aimlessly for about half an hour, trying not to accidentally walk over too many people’s dead bodies in the ground, he was able to find someone who worked there who knew what he was looking for.

Kageyama wipes away some of the dirt and weeds that had accumulated on Hinata Shouyou’s headstone. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he first saw it, though. The headstone stands only two feet tall, with very simple letting on the front with an image of a silhouette on a swing on the side.

“Beloved Son and Friend, Hinata Shouyou. June 21, 1971 - December 15, 1978. ‘Are there still beautiful things?’” The headstone reads, all of the lettering still very legible even after more than forty years. Below the quote, is a black-and-white picture of what must have been Hinata Shouyou not long before he died.

Kageyama can’t help but gasp when he wipes away the debris from the picture, however. Because when he does, he sees that this boy, who is buried six feet under him, looks exactly the same as the Hinata Shouyou he had said “See you later” to twenty years before.

There is no mistaking it, this is the same boy he ran around with all those years ago. The same boy he said he loved in that closet when he was so scared of everything. The same boy who he can never forget, even if he never actually met him.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Kageyama says out loud as he stares at this lifeless picture of his childhood best friend. “How can this be?”

Nothing is making sense. This boy who is lying under him in a casket looks exactly like the boy he wanted so desperately to talk to. How could his best friend, his imaginary best friend, have been the mirror image of this boy who died more than twenty years before he even lived in that house? Had he been friends with a ghost all that time? 

“Was my house actually haunted?” Kageyama asks himself, remembering that Hinata had told him that day that he had thought his house was haunted. Was he actually telling Kageyama that he was haunting his house? Was he trying to tell Kageyama that he was the ghost all along?

“I haven’t a clue what’s going here,” Kageyama says before putting his hands on his forehead. “But I can’t act like I do.” 

He wants to cry, to mourn his best friend who might have actually been a ghost. Even if he never really believed in ghosts and the paranormal, he can’t help but have a tiny belief that it really was this Hinata Shouyou who talked to him on that swing that warm June day twenty years ago.

Whether or not the Hinata Shouyou that had befriended him and made those six months so amazing and fun was his imaginary friend or a ghost or a mixture of the two, Kageyama feels that he has a duty to him. A duty to honor the promises he made to that orange-haired boy all those years ago. The promise to grow up, no matter how much he wanted to stay a kid and not learn civility so that one day he could do grown-up things and be strong enough to protect the ones he cares about. And the promise to follow his dream of being a writer like his mom so that his words could touch other people and one day, he could write about Hinata and his exploits as a world-famous volleyball player.

“Hey, Hinata,” Kageyama starts as he sits crisscross applesauce on the ground, looking right at the picture of his ghost imaginary best friend. “It’s been a while huh?”

Kageyama chuckles to himself because of how ridiculous this would have looked to his former, city boy self. But he shrugs those thoughts away. That is no longer him.

“It’s me, Kageyama Tobio. You know, from the house on Crow’s Nest Drive? The one with the porch with the creaky floorboard? You know it. Because of the swing and the weeds.”

Kageyama rubs the back of his hair, trying to collect his thoughts. “I’m sorry I was never able to write or call like I said I was going to. When my mom and I moved in with my grandparents, things were crazy and I guess I just forgot. Can you ever forgive me?” 

Kageyama leaves a pause there, like somehow Hinata’s spirit is going to rise from the grave and tell him he forgives him. But nothing happens, except for a cool breeze that blows some of Kageyama’s bangs across his forehead. 

“Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I went by the house today. It looks just like it did twenty years ago when I lived there and you became my best friend. I’m not sure if it looked like that when you lived there in the seventies, though. Maybe there was more wallpaper up and tile flooring when you ran around that house. Did your family have disco ball? Did you play pirate then too and scream so ferociously in the weeds that all the birds flew away?” Kageyama smiles, thinking back to those times when he did the same things with him. “I hope you did because those were some of the best times I ever had.”

Kageyama grabs a handful of grass at his side and rips it from the ground. He lets them go in the breeze and watches the green tufts fly away from him, dancing in the summer wind.

“I guess what I’m trying to say, is I’m glad I met you back then. Even if you were imaginary or a ghost or something else.”

Kageyama takes an unsteady breath as he tries to focus on that same smile he could recognize anywhere now on the headstone.

“You were my best friend and helped me through so much back then. So, thank you.”

“I don’t know where you might be now or if you can even hear me, but thank you!” He says louder this time, shooting it up to the sky.

“And I wanted to confess something. Don’t me mad at me but I forgot about our promises.”

“Sure, I grew up and stopped being a kid. But I wasn’t able to grow up to protect my mom or the ones I care about.”

His mom isn’t dead but he knew he hadn’t done the best job being a thoughtful son in a long time. He left her as fast as he could when he graduated high school and didn’t look back for almost ten years after that. Until now.

“But I promise I’m going to do better this time. I’m going to be here for my mom and protect her as much as I can now that I’m all grown up.” 

That’s when Kageyama realizes why Hinata, the ghost, probably made him promise that. He wasn’t able to grow up and be strong like he wanted Kageyama to. He wasn’t able to get taller or experience everything life had to offer that a seven-year-old couldn’t be a part of. This revelation almost brings Kageyama to tears but he knows if he starts to cry then, he just won’t be able to stop. And he still has so much more he wants to say.

“And I forgot the promise we made about what we were going to be when we-” His words catch in his throat again. Those lofty, and somewhat cryptic, promises are all starting to make sense. “Grew up. I didn’t become a writer.” Kageyama remembers with disdain what he did end up becoming, just so he could chase after that moronic dream of the big city. “I got a job in ‘statistical analysis and data reconfiguration’,” he says, dripping with disdain. “But I’m not doing that anymore. I’m going to do my best at becoming a writer, just twenty years too late I guess. And when I do start writing, my first book is going to be about you. Just like I promised.”

Hinata Shouyou might not have been able to become a professional volleyball player in his life here on earth, but Kageyama becomes determined to make that dream a reality in his written words. It is the best way he can think of to honor his best friend and this boy who was taken too early, a boy with dreams of flying. 

“So, Hinata. Once again, thank you for everything. Thank you for showing me how to be happy back then, even though I forgot it when I left. And thank you for running around with me and going on all those adventures, just the two of us. The high seas that were those weeds wouldn’t have been half as fun without you,” Kageyama takes a deep breath and looks to the sky, where he sees a crow flapping his wings. “And most of all, thank you for being there when I needed you most. When I was hiding in my closet, too afraid of everything. Without you, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Thank you,” he whispers to the ground as he lets a single tear fall from his face. “See you later, Hinata Shouyou. I hope wherever you are, you are able to fly high. Higher than anyone ever could.”

Kageyama closes his eyes and lets all of the emotions that were growing in his stomach reach their peak. The sadness from the fact that those days of summer were gone, and the boy he shared them with would have to live inside his head and in this cemetery forever. The happiness from the fact that this trip back to where everything began had opened up memories and promises that he is now more determined than ever to uphold. And the anger that this boy, who was lying below him in the ground, was never able to achieve the dreams and promises he had made Kageyama make all those years ago. 

None of it is fair. But Kageyama is determined to do his best to honor Hinata Shouyou, and his orange hair, and his ferocious screams, so that he will live on.

That somehow, someway both of their connected dreams will become a reality.

“Hi, excuse me.”

Kageyama doesn’t move from his position, kneeling in front of Hinata’s headstone. Afraid that if he does, then he might forget his promises just like he did back then. And, besides, the voice might be for someone else. There are a lot of headstones in this cemetery, so it’s very possible that the voice is trying to get the attention of someone else who had come to mourn. He wants to be left alone with Hinata for just a little while longer.

Before he has to go back to the real world.

“Hi, can you hear me?” 

The voice asks again which prompts the old Kageyama to come back for a moment. He’s ready to attack with all of his usual weapons: his insane eye-rolls, his signature scowl, and his biting indifference that he had honed over the years. He silently promises Hinata that this would be one of the last times he has to use these though, now that he wants to be a better and changed grown-up.

“What?!” Kageyama asks, not looking up from the headstone.

“Oh, I was just wondering how you knew my uncle,” the voice says, coming much closer to Kageyama’s kneeling body.

“Your uncle?” Kageyama asks before turning to see the young man who had knelt beside him. 

The young man looks back at Kageyama and gives him a closed-mouth smile, his eyes crinkling around the edges. Kageyama’s eyes widen so large that he’s surprised they didn’t pop out of his face. This person in front of him looked so devastatingly familiar. He has the same bright orange hair in those unforgettable wavy spikes. The same brown eyes that he remembers laughing with him all those years ago. The same bright aura around him, just older. Grown-up.

If the young man hadn’t already mentioned that this was his uncle’s headstone, Kageyama would have thought that the Hinata he spent all that time with had actually been real and his mom and that old woman and this cemetery had played a horrible prank on him. But alas, he knows that isn’t the case.

“Yeah, my uncle, Hinata Shouyou,” the young man answers. “I never met him but I feel really connected with him.”

“You look just like him,” Kageyama says, flabbergasted. He doesn’t really know what to say right then.

“Yeah, that’s what my family always tells me.” The young man touches one of his wavy orange spikes. “It doesn’t help that my hair is the color it is, does it?”

“It is pretty weird, yeah,” Kageyama replies, noticing how his hair looked like it had been transplanted right off Hinata’s and onto this man’s head. Albeit, a little bigger.

“I’m Shouyou, by the way,” the young man extends his hand for Kageyama. “And before you say anything, I know. It’s Shouyou, like my uncle's.”

“Were you- were you named after him or something?” Kageyama asks dumbly. 

_Of course, he was named after his uncle, you boke_ , he thinks to himself, opting to slap his forehead in frustration in his mind instead of in real life.

“What gave it away?” Shouyou laughs before looking back at Kageyama. He even laughs like Hinata did back then. “Yeah, my mom, Hinata’s sister, named me after him when she had me. She and my grandparents were destroyed when he passed like forty years ago.”

“How did he die, if you don’t mind telling me?” Kageyama asks. 

He knows that Hinata’s body was found in the creek because of what Ms. Yachi, the older woman, told him but he doesn’t actually know how it ended up there. He isn’t sure if knowing how this boy who dreamed of flying died would change anything for him, but he just needs to know.

“Huh?” Shouyou asks, looking at Kageyama like he had just spoken in an alien language. 

He scrunches his eyebrows at him which reminds Kageyama of how Hinata used to do that whenever he mentioned new things he didn’t know about, like Hello Panda or Naruto. Which now makes sense, given that those came out after he had passed.

Shouyou softens when he sees how sincere Kageyama is being and he relents. “My mom doesn’t like talking about it but my grandparents told me eventually. At their old house on Crow’s Nest Drive- I don’t know if you know it but it’s a really cool house with a porch that goes around it-” 

Kageyama gives him a knowing smile. “Yeah, I know it.”

“Oh great,” Shouyou says before continuing. “Well, there’s a tree in the backyard that used to have a swing hanging from its biggest branch and I guess Hinata loved it more than anything in the world and all he wanted to do was fly high from it.” Shouyou’s voice stops when he looks at the swing image on Hinata’s headstone. “It’s kinda funny that my grandparents put that picture of a swing on his gravestone given what happened.”

“What- What happened?” Kageyama asks. He knows in the pit of his stomach what happened to Hinata when Shouyou gives him that look. That look that screams, ”You know what I’m about to say.”

“I guess one night it was raining really hard and his parents, my grandparents, were arguing and my grandpa walked out on them for the night and Hinata snuck out to the yard to avoid all of it. My mom says she was already asleep in her room when it happened. So no one really knows for sure what exactly happened. But everyone thinks that he finally got the courage to jump from the swing and fly high like he always said he wanted to but was too scared to do. But I guess he landed wrong and here we are.”

Shouyou looks up to the sky and mouths something that Kageyama doesn’t quite catch. But he does the same thing and mouths “Fly high” so Hinata could potentially feel it wherever he is.

“My mom and grandparents never really forgave themselves for what happened. For letting Hinata out of their sights and not taking him seriously when he said he wanted to fly with all of Pennsylvania under him.”

Kageyama feels a lump in his throat when he remembers almost those exact words coming from Hinata’s mouth. And how Hinata was so glad on that last day they spent together when they both decided they wouldn’t jump off the swing into the creek. Was he trying to protect Kageyama from the same fate that happened to him?

“But yeah, that’s how my uncle, that I never met but feel like I’ve known ever since I was born with this orange hair and name-” he picks up one of his wavy spikes again and playfully throws it back. “-died.”

“That’s-” Kageyama puts his hand to his mouth and tries to keep in his scream and his cries in. In the end, this grave belongs to this Shouyou’s family, not him. It isn’t his place to break down there, a total stranger to him. “That’s so sad.”

“Yeah, it is,” Shouyou says before putting his hand on Kageyama’s shoulder. “I wish I could have met him but all I really need to do is look in the mirror I guess.” 

Shouyou laughs which garners a weak chuckle from Kageyama as well. He doesn’t know if he’s laughing to make Shouyou feel better for having to rehash such a sad story or if it’s because he feels like he’s laughing with Hinata himself. This all must be some sort of cruel joke that everyone in this small town is playing on him, because if it isn’t, then he might just explode.

“You never answered my question though,” Shouyou says. 

“What?” Kageyama asks, completely forgetting what Shouyou had asked him before he went into that story.

“How did you know my uncle? Because you don’t look like you’re that much older than me,” Shouyou’s eyes drill into Kageyama’s just like Hinata’s did back then whenever he asked Kageyama a philosophical question on why Pikachu was yellow instead of brown or white like an actual mouse. “But I guess you can tell me your name first. It’s the least you can do now that I told you about my family’s tragedy.”

“Oh, I’m Tobio Kageyama,” he says, shaking Shouyou’s hand for the second time.

“Kageyama?” Shouyou asks, putting his finger to his chin and looks up. Just like Hinata used to as well. Everything this Shouyou does is just like what Hinata used to do which makes Kageyama’s insides flutter. “Where have I heard that last name before?”

“Uhh, it’s not that common a Japanese name so-”

“Wait. Are you related to Haruichi Kageyama by any chance?”

“Yeah, that’s my dad,” Kageyama replies. 

“Wait, so did you live in that house…” Shouyou trails off, looking at Kageyama like he is finally seeing him for the first time. “You should have said that before!” He nudges Kageyama with his shoulder. “Not gonna lie, I thought you were some weird creeper or something. Which then would beg the question of why I even told you all of this in the first place but this makes more sense. No wonder you’d be interested in my uncle.”

Kageyama laughs a little at how quickly Shouyou’s tone changed when he realized who he was in relation to that house. “Did you live in that house too?” He asks.

“No,” Shouyou replies, sitting down fully on the grass. Kageyama does the same, putting his hands to the side like Shouyou. “After Hinata died, they left the house and let the bank take it. They couldn’t stand seeing that tree and the swing and the places he used to run around so they just left. I grew up in Pittsburgh, which is just as crappy as you might imagine.”

“Sounds like the ‘Pitts,’” Kageyama jokes, prompting Shouyou to punch him in the shoulder playfully.

“As a proud Yinzer, I take offense to anyone else making fun of it. But yeah, it was the Pitts,” he laughs which makes Kageyama laugh. “But every year, we would come out here to pay our respects to Hinata and drive by that house. So maybe I saw you during one of those trips!” Shouyou turns to Kageyama and smiles. “Wouldn’t that have been something?”

“Yeah, maybe if you drove by during the six months I actually lived there.”

“Why only six months?” Shouyou asks. “I could have sworn my mom said Mr. Kageyama, your dad, lived there for at least a couple of years until she and my dad were able to buy it back from him.”

“My parents separated that December and my mom and I left for New Hampshire to live with her parents, my late grandparents.”

“Oh, that sounds rough. Especially for a little kid. How old were you?”

“Seven, about to turn eight, some birthday that turned out to be.” Kageyama scoffs remembering how sad his birthday party turned out that year. 

They hadn’t been in New Hampshire for more than a week when he turned eight. He ended up having to spend it with his mom, his grandparents, his five aunts and uncles, and cousins he had only just met who all looked at him like a foreigner they didn’t want to touch. Instead of Hinata who he had wanted to spend it with.

“Well, I hope your birthdays after were a lot better,” Shouyou laughs weakly.

“They were alright,” Kageyama says before circling back on something Shouyou had said. “Wait, did you say your parents bought the house from my dad?”

“Yeah, they wanted to make sure that the house didn’t get torn down or something if Crow’s Landing ever gets gentrified. Why?”

“Would your last name be Furudate?”

“Uhh, yeah, I thought I said that before. But, my full name is Shouyou Hinata Furudate.”

“Hinata?” Kageyama asks, sitting up straighter to look back at Shouyou. Shouyou does the same to match him.

“Yeah, I know most Japanese people don’t have middle names, but my mom gave me one because she wanted to honor Hinata while always keeping my father’s last name. But they always made sure I went by Shouyou though, because if I went by Hinata, I might not have been able to be my own person or something. Especially given that we could be twins.”

Kageyama shakes his head in bewilderment. Here he is, sitting in front of a headstone of a boy he never actually knew with his nephew that basically has the same name as him. His nephew that looks exactly like him and does things just like he used to. Had he not just been in New York City a month ago, contemplating how he could escape his dead-end, depressing life?

“You okay?” Shouyou asks Kageyama, putting his hand on his shaking shoulder.

“Sorry, it’s just a lot to take in, that’s all.”

“Yeah, death will do that to you, I guess,” Shouyou says before looking at the headstone again. “It’s funny. Talking to you right now about Hinata, really makes me feel closer to him for some reason.”

“Same here,” Kageyama replies. 

He wants to add “More than you know” but decides against it. He knows he wants to learn more about this Shouyou in front of him to feel closer to Hinata but also because of something else. He can’t quite put his finger on it though. He wants more time with him. To ask him more questions, not just about Hinata and that house and his family, but about Shouyou and his life. Like where did he go to school? What does he do for a living? Did he play volleyball in high school? Is he in a relationship?

“I don’t know about you, but talking about this kind of stuff really gets me hungry,” Shouyou says before standing up. “This might be a little weird, but would you want to get a bite to eat?”

“Sure!” Kageyama replies a little too enthusiastically. 

This is his chance to learn more about this person in front of him and try to figure out why when he helps him up off the ground, his heart skips a singular beat. It’s almost like he wants to know everything about this complete stranger who also isn’t a stranger at all at the same time.

“Great!” Shouyou says as he wipes the dirt off his butt. “Oh, you’ve got some there too. Here, let me get it,” he says before smacking it off Kageyama’s butt. 

Kageyama squirms as Shouyou’s hands wipe the dirt off his behind. Not because he dislikes it but because of how surprised he is.

“Oh, sorry, that was like super weird, my bad!” Shouyou laughs before rubbing the back of his hair. “I don’t know if it’s just me, and this is going to sound even weirder and you can leave at any time if you want, but does it feel like we’ve met each other before? Like more than me maybe seeing you out the car window when my family used to drive by that house? I don’t know, it just feels like I know you but also I don’t know you all the same?”

Kageyama can’t believe it. Shouyou had said the thing he had been feeling ever since he first saw him. He knew it then because of how much he looked like his uncle, the Hinata Shouyou who he had spent all the time with. But if Shouyou feels it too, after just less than fifteen minutes of talking, there has to have been something there. Something bigger than the two of them that is connecting them together.

For the first time since he was seven-years-old, he feels connected to another person like he had back then. But this time, he knows he’s grown up and he has promises he’s going to keep and a life he’s going to live. He finally knows who he is, and who he’s going to be. Which is one of the greatest feelings in the world. A feeling he could only remember in his childhood. When he was seven.

“I feel the same thing too,” Kageyama replies to Shouyou, smiling back. “It’s so weird that you said it because I couldn’t find the words.”

“That’s so cool!” Shouyou exclaims before wrapping Kageyama in a tight hug. 

Kageyama doesn’t know what to do at first with this sudden gesture but soon finds that all he can do is hug him back. He closes his eyes and leans his head on Shouyou’s. And somehow, holding Shouyou in his arms right there in that cemetery, next to Hinata’s gravestone, feels like the one place he is meant to be.

“Sorry, that was really forward of me again,” Shouyou says before letting Kageyama go. “I barely know your name and here I am hugging you like you’re about to fly away.”

“It’s okay, I liked it,” Kageyama tells him.

“Great!” Shouyou says before grabbing his hand. "But also..." Shouyou starts, looking up at Kageyama. "I think I just realized something."

"And what's that?"

"I think I paid for one of your drinks back in New York," Shouyou laughs. "So maybe that's also why you seemed so familiar."

"Wait, that was totally you!" A cold breeze blows towards them, picking up Shouyou's orange hair, making him smile so brightly that Kageyama almost has to look away. But instead, he decides to keep staring at this bright spot. "You had this weird bathroom song too. My friend Suga and I laughed about it after you left."

"Now that you mention it," Shouyou says, twisting his legs together. "I kinda have to pee. So we should go!" And with that, the much shorter Shouyou pulls Kageyama out of the cemetery in a gust of orange wing and into that both of them would realize soon, the rest of their life.

Kageyama doesn’t tell him then, but he loves the way Shouyou’s hand feels in his, like he was the second half he didn't know he had been missing in his life. He wouldn’t tell him that until their third date, sans the second half part, when Shouyou informs him that he would be starting his residency at Johns Hopkins in the fall. A feat that blows Kageyama’s mind because he wouldn’t have pegged Shouyou as the doctor-type which he took offense to. It would take many, many kisses, and a lot of begging on his knees to get Shouyou to forgive him.

It was on that first day together that summer, which they wouldn’t end counting as a date when looking back on it, when Kageyama told Shouyou of his plans to be an author like his mom and that his first novel would be about Hinata and his journey to be a professional volleyball player. Kageyama was really happy when Shouyou said that sounded like an amazing idea, especially because of how short Hinata probably would have grown up to be if Shouyou’s 5’ 7 was any indication. Kageyama would then later go on to tell Shouyou that he loved how short he was because he could rest his head on his if he wanted to.

It was on their tenth date when Kageyama off-handedly mentioned that he wouldn’t mind moving away from Crow’s Landing and that Baltimore, Maryland didn’t sound too bad. And Shouyou’s eyes lit up like a sparkler falling into a field of dry grass and one thing led to another and they moved in together that fall when Shouyou went to start his residency and Kageyama started really cracking down on his manuscript. Even though both of them would tell the other that they might have moved a little too fast, they would also tell each other that they couldn't have imagined it any other way.

It was on their one-year anniversary when they came back to Crow’s Landing and they visited the grave again. This time with Shouyou one step closer to being a doctor, like Hinata eventually wanted to be, and Kageyama’s manuscript, entitled “Haikyuu!”, being bid on by several top publishing houses. And it was on that drive back to Maryland, when Hinata off-handedly mentioned that one of his fellow residents had just been proposed to and Kageyama, somewhat ignoring the implications of _that_ , began to seriously think about that house again, and the fact that the Furudate’s hadn’t sold it yet.

It was on their second anniversary, after watching a new Japanese horror movie about a ghost in a bath house, when Shouyou asked Kageyama if he believed in ghosts and Kageyama immediately nodded. That’s when Shouyou followed it up by asking Kageyama if he had also seen his uncle Hinata around that house, and on the swing, and in the weeds. And they would continue to be amazed that they both had met seven-year-old Hinata, even if he was a ghost. And, of course, Shouyou would joke with Kageyama that he was only dating him because he had the hots for his seven-year-old best friend. Which Kageyama had thought when they first started dating, but after almost 1,051,200 minutes, he knew that this Shouyou, with his inability to play volleyball and not having read any of the Magic Treehouse books, was the one he was in love with.

It was six months after that when they adopted a puppy and a kitten because _somebody_ with orange hair and an inability to say no to anything cute happened to see them, abandoned in a box outside of the hospital. And given that Kageyama was busy working on his follow-up novel to the New York Times Bestselling “Haikyuu!” and was home all the time, he ended up mainly taking care of them. But he appreciated the company when Shouyou was stuck sleeping in the on-call room and Kageyama was hitting writer’s block for the umpteenth time when he tried to write about his beloved character, Hinata, and his newest exploits on and off the court. And when his mom called him, telling him that she had been by the house a couple of times and it still hadn’t been sold. And ended it by nonchalantly mentioning her worsening condition.

It was on their third anniversary, before Shouyou’s last year of residency when Kageyama got down on one knee and pulled out a ring and said “Marry me, Shouyou Hinata Furudate, and make me the luckiest and happiest man in the whole world” in front of his mom who had just been discharged from the hospital for what would be one of her last months out and about. They got married that same summer, only one month after Kageyama’s proposal, in the Crow’s Landing High School gymnasium because they couldn’t get a better venue given how quickly they needed to get married so Kageyama’s mom could attend. Kageyama even invited his dad, at the insistence of both his ailing mother and obstinate husband-to-be, to fly in from Japan and give his blessing. And although Kageyama didn’t have much to discuss with his father, they were able to connect over that house which, over twenty years later, still held warm places in their hearts.

It was only a month after that when they buried Kageyama’s mom, the beloved Crow’s Landing Librarian and New York Times Bestselling author Elizabeth Christiansen, in the same cemetery that Hinata was buried in. But unlike the nightmares Kageyama had had about his mom dying before and him being alone for it, Shouyou was right there to hold his hand as they lowered the casket. And he was right there, his hand interlocked with Kageyama’s, as he placed a braided grass knot on top, like the ones he used to make with Hinata and give to his mom as presents. And it was on that drive back to Baltimore, where Kageyama only looked out the window, when Shouyou told him that he wouldn’t mind settling down in Crow’s Landing once he finished his residency and maybe even start his own family practice.

It was on their fourth anniversary, when they were able to celebrate their honeymoon and spent it halfway across the world, with a list of all the places Hinata had wanted to go to when he grew up. Shouyou had just finished his residency and Kageyama was able to write it all off as a novel-inspiration trip. They would then spend the next six months flying from China and the pandas to Australia and the kangaroos to Canada and the moose and even to Antarctica and the penguins, taking pictures in each place so they could bring them back to Hinata one day. Their last stop, of course, was India where they visited elephant sanctuaries and took many selfies in front of the Taj Mahal and ran around with the wild monkeys, the place Hinata would have run away to with Kageyama. They then brought all of these pictures back with Shouyou’s and, in a way, Hinata’s peace signs in full force for Hinata to hopefully see from wherever he was. And that globe that Hinata always liked so much ended up becoming covered with so many flags that the oceans became the most visible, which had been the plan from the beginning.

And it was on their fifth anniversary after Shouyou had become a full-fledged doctor, Shouyou H. Furudate, M.D., when Kageyama sold the exclusive screen rights for his now world-famous “Haikyuu!” series that had been translated into twenty-three different languages to a major anime studio in Tokyo because Hinata had always adored those two-dimensional characters. And it was that same month when Kageyama and Shouyou made their move back to Crow’s Landing, a list of potential houses in one hand and each other’s hands in the other. And when Kageyama made Shouyou wear a blindfold when he drove him to the location that would soon be the home of “Hinata Family Medicine” in honor of the person Shouyou had been looking up to his entire life, even if he wasn’t skilled enough to fly on the volleyball court.

And it was a day after that when the Furudate’s themselves told the two of them that they had been waiting for them to be ready. Ready to take the keys to that house on Crow’s Nest Drive, because it had been waiting for them longer than they could ever have known.

“And we can turn this room into a nursery,” Kageyama says after they walk into one of the upstairs rooms that, if he remembers correctly, used to be his mom’s reading room when she wasn’t writing in the downstairs office. Their dog and cat, were busy scoping out the rest of the house, acting as makeshift exterminators and ghost hunters.

“A nursery?” Shouyou asks, his finger on his chin. “Like for plants?”

“No, boke,” Kageyama laughs as he taps Shouyou on the forehead. “For our kids.”

“Kids? Plural?” Shouyou asks, shocked with a smile growing on his face. “How many are we talking about? Two? Three?”

“Enough to form a whole volleyball team, with backups!” Kageyama says before counting on his fingers. “So, at least twelve!”

“Twelve kids?” Shouyou laughs. “And where do you think we’ll put all of them?”

“Well, we can have lots of bunk beds! It’ll be like a huge sleepover. They can run around in the yard together and we can build an actual swing set by the house so they can learn to fly, safely that is, and they can play pirate and-”

“Hold on there, Milk Boy,” Shouyou says, cutting off Kageyama with the nickname he had given him not long after they had started dating when he had first commented on how much milk he liked to drink. “How about we start with two and see where that takes us?”

“Deal,” Kageyama replies, shaking Shouyou’s hand. He can compromise on two kids as long as they grow up to be the best of friends and don’t take this house for granted like he had in the past. “But what are we going to name them?”

“I have some ideas,” Shouyou says. Kageyama doesn’t have to spend much time deciphering the names Shouyou has in his mind. 

They spend the rest of the day unpacking all of the things they brought from their cramped one-bedroom apartment in Maryland that they had rented, thinking they were saving up for a house. When in fact, Shouyou’s parents gave them this house with just the stipulation that they give it as much love as Hinata had for it all those years ago. And they don’t let it be gentrified. A trade Kageyama and Shouyou were willing and eager to make, especially now that they have all this money to put towards renovating some of the less quirky and more dangerous parts of the house, like that one uneven plank on the porch and the board from the roof that blew off on Kageyama’s first day in the house almost twenty-fives years before.

They don’t have too much from their time in Maryland, mostly Shouyou’s medical books and the novels Kageyama always says he’s going to read but then puts off to brainstorm his newest novel ideas. So their day was mostly spent discussing all the things they wanted to add or change to the house, like redoing the roof before the rainy and snowy seasons and building that swing set for their future kids.

“Maybe something about my mom,” Kageyama says out loud after the two of them sit down for a much-needed break on the porch. That is now one-hundred percent theirs. 

Shouyou had tried and done a fairly decent job at making Kageyama’s mom’s sweet tea from the recipe she wrote down for them as part of her wedding present. There really wasn’t anything like drinking sweet tea in the summer on the porch. Especially with the one person in the entire world that one loves with all of their heart.

“For your next novel?” Shouyou asks Kageyama before nestling his head into his shoulder. 

“Yeah, maybe something about a librarian who has to solve crimes using her knowledge of crime novels.”

“Sounds really meta. And just like your mom.”

“Yeah, my mom always said that if she were to start writing again, she would want to write a crime mystery novel. So maybe I’ll do that.”

“I think that sounds like a great idea, Tobio,” Shouyou says as he curls up closer to him and closes his eyes. “You know I’m your biggest fan. So whatever you do, I’ll support you.”

“Thanks, Shouyou,” Kageyama says, leaning his head on Shouyou’s. “Can you believe we’re really here?”

“I can,” Shouyou smiles. “We’ve been through a lot these last five years and I can’t imagine doing any of it without you.”

“Me either. I love you,” Kageyama says, placing a soft kiss on Shouyou’s hair.

“I love you too,” Shouyou nestles closer to Kageyama and whispers back, his eyes still closed. “To the moon and to Saturn.”

Kageyama runs his fingers through Shouyou’s hair, which had never lost its orange hue once in their time together. He knows that this right here is what those promises he made to Hinata all the way back then, when he was too short to reach the top shelf, were really for. And he’s grateful for all the time he spent at that horrific job in that gray office and the times he cried himself to sleep in that lonely third-story New York City apartment wondering where his life was going. Because, in the end, all of that darkness, all of it eventually brought him back here.

To this small town in Central Pennsylvania. To this plot of land with a tree that still stands tall, after all these years. To this porch with the love of his life sleeping next to him.

He looks out over the yard and into the weeds when he thinks he sees a tuft of orange hair peeking through the top of the grass. He squints harder to get a better look when he realizes he’s looking at the face that he had once been unable to recall, the one he now has memorized like the back of his hand. But next to that boy who looks like he hasn’t aged a day since Kageyama had last seen him, is another head with black hair that looks so familiar, like looking in a mirror. He knows who it is immediately and smiles, as the two of them wave to him in a way that brings him close to tears.

“See you later,” he mouths to the boys as they turn around and run off into the weeds. He watches them go, their hands interlocked until they become nothing more than rustling weeds in the distance. He keeps looking out over that tall grass, half expecting to hear one of their ferocious, uncivilized screams, when he sees two crows fly out of that field and into the sky. Higher and higher, until they’re completely out of sight. He’s not sure where they’re going to land, but he’s glad they’re together.

“Cross my heart, and hope to fly,” Kageyama says in a whisper that’s just for those birds and the boys in the sky. 

“Goodbye.”

_Please picture me_

_In the trees_

_I hit my peak at seven_

_Feet_

_In the swing_

_Over the creek_

_I was too scared to jump in, but I, I was high_

_In the sky_

_With Pennsylvania under me_

_Are there still beautiful things?_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it! Y’all are the best :)))
> 
> Also! If you enjoyed reading about this version of Kageyama and Hinata, check out the next installment in my Taylor Swift-Haikyuu series: Invisible String! https://archiveofourown.org/works/29405133/chapters/72239202


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